CAIRO: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday Egypt was on the frontline against “terrorism” after meeting its leadership to garner support to fight militants in Iraq and Syria.

Egypt’s formidable army is unlikely to take part in a military coalition against the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham, but it has closely cooperated with the United States on counter-terrorism.

The Arab world’s most populous state boasts the prestigious Sunni authority Al-Azhar which Mr Kerry said would fight back against the Islamic State’s use of the religion.

Know more: US forms new coalition to fight IS

Washington says it is “at war” with IS and has named John Allen, a hawkish former commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, to coordinate its campaign against the movement that has seized large chunks of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Mr Kerry, who flew in from Ankara, met President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.

Cairo’s involvement in the coalition may help to soothe its relations with Washington, after the United States suspended — then restored — military aid when the army ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Mr Morsi’s successor, former army chief Sisi, is fighting Islamist militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula who have expressed support for the IS.

“Egypt is on the frontline of the fight against terrorism, particularly when it comes to fighting extremist groups in Sinai,” Mr Kerry told a news conference with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri.

After securing the backing of 10 Arab governments this week, Washington is seeking a stamp of approval for its campaign from Egypt and its religious institutions, which include Al-Azhar university.

“As an intellectual and cultural capital in the Muslim world, Egypt has a critical role to play in publicly denouncing the ideology that ISIL disseminates,” Mr Kerry said, using another acronym for IS.

Egypt has branded its Islamist political opposition as well as militants as “terrorists” vaguely linked to regional militant groups.

“We of course monitor the relation between the different organisations, and their ideology is linked,” Mr Shoukri said.

Mr Kerry said he also had a “frank” discussion on human rights in Egypt amid a bloody crackdown on the government’s opponents, and the jailing of three Al-Jazeera television journalists and secular dissidents.

Despite Washington saying it is “at war” with IS, Mr Kerry has been reluctant to use the term, speaking instead of a “major counter-terrorism operation”.

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande travelled to Baghdad for talks ahead of an international conference on Iraq in Paris on Monday.

Mr Kerry was in neighbouring Turkey to address the threat posed by the militants, who seized much of the Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad in June.

In Ankara, Mr Kerry spoke of “a broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States and others”.

Turkey is a fellow Nato member but has so far refused to open its air bases to US forces and other coalition members.

A Turkish official said that Ankara’s hands were tied by concern for 49 Turks, including diplomats and their children, kidnapped when IS seized Iraq’s second city Mosul in June.

In Jeddah on Thursday, Mr Kerry gained the support of 10 Arab nations for the push to weaken IS, whose appeal has drawn volunteers from around the world.

But Washington has insisted it will not work with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, where three and a half years of conflict has allowed the emergence of IS, the most violent and powerful group of militants.

Atrocities in areas it controls include attacks on ethnic and religious minorities and beheadings of American journalists and enemy soldiers, many of which it has recorded and posted online.

Published in Dawn, September 14th , 2014