Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday his country would not join any US-led military action against international terrorism, AFP reported.
Egypt "supports the fight against terrorism but will not take part with troops," he said.
Mubarak's comments came on the same day US Secretary of Defense Ronald Rumsfeld headed for Cairo, on the third leg of a Middle Eastern tour that had already taken him to Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Earlier in the day, Rumsfeld held talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed of Oman in Muscat "on regional and international developments" the official Omani news agency (ONA) said.
The agency added that the two men discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the US-led international anti-terror coalition.
Oman has been committed to a military agreement with the US since 1980.
Mubarak said Rumsfeld was not seeking Egypt's military participation in the war on terrorism, according to AFP.
"He is not coming to ask for troops. He is coming for an exchange of points of view on events in the region," Mubarak said in a meeting with Egyptian army officers, in comments broadcast on television.
"We know our limitations and they know perfectly well the position of Egypt," he said. "The [Egyptian] head of state knows his limits, and he knows when to send troops and when not to send them."
Mubarak drew a distinction between the terror crisis and the 1991 Gulf War, when Egyptian troops joined a US-led coalition in evicting Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait.
"I sent troops to the Gulf because there was an Arab joint defense pact, and that was with the approval of Parliament," he said. "We cannot send our children, without reason, just to fight somewhere."
However, he stressed that Cairo had "very good relations" with Washington.
In the run-up to the visit, Egypt, along with other key US allies in the Arab World, has said it is "sure" Arab countries such as Iraq will not be in the firing line.
Earlier Thursday in a speech to the armed forces, Mubarak called for "logic and good sense" to face up to the threats facing world peace in the aftermath of the anti-US attacks.
Egypt on October 6 marks the anniversary of the army's crossing of the Suez Canal in a surprise attack on Israeli occupation forces in the Sinai in 1973. Six years later, Egypt became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel – Albawaba.com
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