The U.S. Embassy in Cairo announced Thursday that Lieutenant General Michael X Garrett, the US Army Central Commander, is on a visit to Egypt. This is Lt. Gen. Garrett’s second visit to Egypt as Commanding General of United States Army Central, reported Al-Ahram, a state-run newspaper.
During his August 9-10 visit, Lt. Gen. Garrett met with senior Egyptian military officials to discuss the long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt, joint efforts to fight terrorism and the shared interests in regional stability and security.
U.S. Army Central is the Army component of US Central Command, the section in the US military responsible for operations in the Middle East and strengthening partnerships in the region.
During his first visit to Egypt in January of 2016, Lt. Gen. Garrett said, “Our partnership with the Egyptian military is incredibly important for the stability of the region.”
Throughout the last months, several US army and congress officials have visited Egypt and also met with senior Egyptian officials, and in some visits, they met Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The latest was the visit of the head of the US Naval Forces Central Command commander Kevin M. Donegan where he met a number of senior Egyptian officials to discuss shared security interests between the two countries.
The United States provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid annually, with the 2016 package including $150 million in economic assistance.
Recently, Egypt received in May an initial shipment of 762 mine-resistant, ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles from the United States, which will be used in army operations in North Sinai.
The Egyptian armed forces are launching massive attacks against the Islamic insurgency in Sinai Peninsula. Sinai Province a group affiliated to ISIS carried several operations and attacks against Egyptian armed forces.
