US noncommittal on Muslim group joining talks

By Matthew Lee

Associated Press

Published: Sunday, Feb. 6 2011 4:15 a.m. MST

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets with Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Maharram Mammadyarov, right, for talks held on the sidelines of the Conference on Security Policy in Munich, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011.

Frank Augstein, Associated Press

Enlarge photo»

Summary

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration will withhold judgment on the decision by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to engage in dialogue with the embattled government of President Hosni Mubarak.

MUNICH — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration will withhold judgment on the decision by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to engage in dialogue with the embattled government of President Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview airing Sunday on National Public Radio, Clinton was noncommittal about the fundamentalist group's role in talks to try to end Egypt's political crisis, but she said the decision suggests "at least they are now involved."

Clinton says the U.S. has been very clear about what it expects in the transition process to a new government in Egypt.

The United States, she says, along with the people of Egypt want so see an orderly transition that leads to free and fair elections.

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