According to the Washington Post on the 14th, the Biden government announced that it would stop providing US $130 million in military assistance to Egypt, citing human rights related issues. The report points out that this is the second consecutive year that the US side has made such a decision.
An unnamed senior official of the US State Department told reporters: "The next goal is to ensure more progress on the very serious human rights issues we are discussing today. Frankly speaking, it is to maintain cooperation on a huge geopolitical agenda... Egypt plays an absolutely crucial role in easing regional conflicts."
A year ago, the United States State Department announced that if Egypt did not improve its "human rights situation" within 120 days, the United States would suspend military assistance of $130 million. US officials later concluded that Egypt had failed to meet the US requirements. This year, the Biden government decided to immediately stop providing such military assistance, leaving no extra time for Egypt.
At the same time, US officials were defending the US decision to continue to provide Egypt with another US $75 million worth of assistance. Previously, this assistance was hampered by the issue of "treatment of prisoners". US officials later concluded that the Egyptian government's recent release of about 500 prisoners met the US requirements.
The Washington Post analyzed that these practices showed that the Biden government, on the one hand, tried to exert pressure on the Egyptian government on "human rights issues", and on the other hand, tried to reward this important geopolitical ally in the Middle East.
Earlier on Tuesday, a group of lawmakers led by Gregory W. Meeks, the Democratic Representative of New York and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, urged the Biden Administration to stop its military assistance to Egypt, condemned "widespread and systematic violations of human rights that are taking place in Egypt", and said that these acts "may undermine the stability of the country".
The Washington Post pointed out that Egypt is still an important regional partner of the United States in many aspects. For example, Egypt is fighting with extremists on the Sinai Peninsula and helped to promote a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestine in 2021.