ABDEL Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted an elected Islamist president and is set to become Egypt's next head of state, has called on the US to help fight jihadi terrorism to avoid the creation of new Afghanistans in the Middle East.
Mr Sisi called for the resumption of US military aid, worth hundreds of million of pounds a year, which was partially frozen after a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Asked what message he has for US President Barack Obama, Mr Sisi said: "We are fighting a war against terrorism."
"The Egyptian army is undertaking major operations in the Sinai so it is not transformed into a base for terrorism that will threaten its neighbours and make Egypt unstable.
"If Egypt is unstable then the entire region is unstable," he added.
"We need American sup-port to fight terrorism, we need American equipment to use to combat terrorism."
He said that neighbouring Libya, which has descended into chaos following the Western-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, was becoming a major security threat to Egypt, with jihadis infiltrating across the border to fight security forces.
Mr Sisi said the West must understand terrorism would reach its doorstep unless it helped eradicate it.
He added: "The West has to pay attention to what's going on in the world."
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