Kagan: Cutting Libya, Egypt Aid “Isn’t the Answer”

In the wake of recent violent protests in Egypt and Libya, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution wrote that the suggestion by some politicians to cut off aid to Libya and Egypt “isn’t the answer.”  ”If anything, we should be increasing assistance, especially security assistance, to help Libyans make their country safer, for themselves and us,” Kagan writes of Libya. On Egypt, Kagan urges readers to “avoid an undiscriminating Islamophobia,” acknowledging that Egypt’s democratic transition is “incomplete.” He also suggests that aid to Egypt is essential to securing American interests in Egypt and that conditioning aid is an option: “U.S. policies should aim to support the forces in Egypt — and there are many — that want a democratic system and a healthy economy. That means providing aid, ideally even more aid than is planned. But it also means making clear to Egyptians what that aid is for. U.S. support should be conditioned on the Egyptian government’s behavior, both internationally and domestically.”

Meanwhile, Khairat al-Shater, the Deputy President of the Muslim Brotherhood, published a letter offering condolences to the U.S. over the embassy storming in Egypt and the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, saying “We hope that the relationships that both Americans and Egyptians worked to build in the past couple of months can sustain the turbulence of this week’s events.” David Ignatius suggests that the Gulf is hoping “Morsi can stabilize Egypt and get the economy moving again,” and that “Despite Tuesday’s tragic events, the United States should make the same bet.” Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations asserts that “The Arab uprisings have overthrown tyrants in Egypt and Libya, but the populations and lawmakers have yet to grasp that democracy is not only about free elections but creating free societies.”

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood canceled its planned protests against the incendiary film, but other demonstrations continued unabated. Also, according to Hamza Hendawi, “Newly activist Egypt is trying to convince Iran to drop its unquestioned support of Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad in order to end that country’s bloody civil war in exchange for help in easing Tehran’s regional isolation at a time of mounting pressure on it over its disputed nuclear program.”