Summary

President Barack Obama should provide Egypt with economic, political and, yes, military support.

If Obama has indeed decided that a strong Egypt is essential, he shouldn’t try to play both sides of the street.

Criticism of human-rights abuses should continue, but Washington should make clear that they come from a friendly nation that wants Egypt to succeed.

Rather than hectoring the Egyptian leader to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood, which for most Egyptians is discredited, Hadley says the United States should urge Sisi to forge links with the young protesters who made the Tahrir Square revolution.

Egypt’s economic case was bolstered by the International Monetary Fund this month, which forecast that GDP growth will rise from its 2 percent average over the last four years to 3.8 percent this year and gradually to 5 percent.

Egypt wants military assistance, too, and it has a better case now that Cairo is actively combating ISIS.
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