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Pompeo in Egypt as he continues Middle East tour

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Published on: June 15, 2023

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived at the Egyptian capital Cairo on Wednesday evening, where he was greeted by Egyptian Ambassador Reda Zaki.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan are greeted by Assistant Foreign Minister For North and South American Affairs Reda Habeeb Ibrahim Zaki and Charge d’Affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, Tom Goldberger, as they arrive at Cairo International Airport, Egypt, January 9, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS

Pompeo is on a Middle East tour where he is seeking to rally Arab allies following Trump’s announcement that he will be taking U.S. troops out of Syria.

Earlier Wednesday, Pompeo met with Iraqi officials in an unannounced visit to Baghdad after which he flew to Erbil, in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, where he met with leadership there.

The unannounced visits to Baghdad and the Kurdish regional capital Erbil came on the second day of a Middle East tour also taking in Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.

Pompeo has the task of explaining U.S. policy in the region after Trump’s announcement of the withdrawal of all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, which rattled allies and came as a shock to top U.S. officials. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quit over it.

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