U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt, waiving congressionally mandated democratic reform conditions, UPI reported. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Clinton waived the conditions based on U.S. national security interests and a goal of maintaining a strategic partnership with Egypt, Voice of America reported. "What we are looking to do here is to continue to work with Egyptian partners on the kind of future that they want for Egypt and that is in our mutual interest," Nuland said. VOA said Clinton assured U.S. lawmakers Egypt was meeting obligations in a peace treaty with Israel and had made "significant progress" in the past 15 months toward democracy, including free and fair parliamentary elections and the transfer of legislative authority to the new governing body.
