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US pulls out of joint military exercises in Egypt
The US military will not participate in multinational military exercises with Egypt due to its increasing troop commitments elsewhere in the world, the US embassy in Cairo said on Sunday.Among other reasons. The annual exercises, one of the worldâs largest multinational military manoeuvres, are scheduled to be held in September. "It seems best to take a temporary break from this exercise as we did after operation Desert Storm," an embassy spokesman said, quoting a statement from the US defence department and referring to the 1991 Gulf War. Western diplomatic sources said that the US withdrawal would effectively cancel this yearâs Bright Star multinational exercises, financed in part by the United States. Make that, mostly financed The last Bright Star exercises, which take place every other year, were held in October 2001 near El-Alamein in northeast Egypt, scene of one of the fiercest battles in World War II, with around 65,000 soldiers and heavy equipment. In 2001, 18,000 US soldiers participated alongside 40,000 Egyptian and 1,100 French soldiers, as well as troops from Italy and eight other countries. French, huh? Maybe another reason to cancel it. Even during the US-led war in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks, the United States had not withdrew from the exercises. Another cause/effect action that theyâll miss. Posted by: Steve 2003-08-11 |
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