Gates arrives in Egypt for talks

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to tread carefully on the issue of Egypt's political future.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Egypt on Wednesday afternoon in his first visit to the country since protests forced longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak to step down as Egyptian president.
It also marks Gates' first stop in the region since the U.S. and allies launched airstrikes against Libya.
Gates, who has helped solidify relations between the U.S. and Egyptian military, will meet with Egyptian officials and military leaders over the coming day. Egypt receives $1.3 billion in military aid each year from the United States, and American leaders have repeatedly praised the professional military here as a stabilizing force during the upheaval that prompted Mubarak's departure last month.
Senior Egyptian military leaders were meeting at the Pentagon, part of a regular session arranged earlier, when the mass protests first broke out in Cairo this winter. They rushed back to Egypt as American military colleagues called for nonviolence and restraint.
Gates arrives just after Egyptians turned out in high numbers last weekend for a referendum on how to move the country forward.

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He will meet with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
"(Secretary Gates) is very encouraged that, especially coming out of this successful referendum, that Egypt is trending in the right direction as it transforms itself into a democratic, civilian-led government," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Gates's plane on its way to Cairo.
Among the issues on the table will be how the United States has helped Egyptians flee Tunisia to avoid the recent violence in Libya, American officials said. The U.S. provided planes to bring the Egyptian refugees home.
Gates and his Egyptian hosts also will discuss the ongoing airstrikes in Libya. "They want to hear each other's thinking," a senior Pentagon official told journalists traveling with Gates. He spoke anonymously under the ground rules of the briefing.
On the issue of Egypt's post-political, post-Mubarak future, Gates is expected to tread carefully. "This has been an Egyptian-led process," the senior Pentagon official said. "We are not here to tell them what to do."
Gates arrives in Cairo after a two-day visit to Russia with overnight stops in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Gates found himself in the middle of a political clash between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin over the U.S. and coalition efforts to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

Gates bluntly deflected Russian calls for a cease-fire -- while predicting a quick scaling back of the current levels of attacks -- and brushed aside allegations of civilian casualties as "outright lies" by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.