US takes careful first steps with new Egypt – AFP
“Despite Morsi’s Islamist background, the confirmation of his election brought relief to President Barack Obama’s administration which feared that the military would not accept his victory and provoke new chaos in Egypt.
Morsi put Washington further at ease shortly after his victory announcement Sunday when he pledged to be a leader for all Egypt — where around 10 percent of the population is Christian — and to honor a peace treaty with Israel.
“He’s been saying a lot of the right things, both privately and then you saw him say many of the right things publicly,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Katulis said that relations with Egypt could move in a similar direction as US ties with Turkey, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has an Islamist background but has worked with the United States on issues including Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.”
