The Obama administration implicitly endorsed Egypt’s new military-backed government Sunday

The Obama administration implicitly endorsed Egypt’s new military-backed government Sunday with a visit from Secretary of State John F. Kerry, sealing the repair of a crucial Mideast bond and a return of American partnership with Egyptian authoritarianism after the tumult of the Arab Spring.

The United States has recently closed ranks with Egypt’s authorities. All but about $78 million of suspended U.S. aid has been restored, despite concerns about mass death sentences for the Muslim Brotherhood and other political opponents, the jailing of journalists and the narrowing of free speech under the military-backed leadership that assumed power after a July coup.

Kerry pledged Sunday that Apache helicopters that Egypt badly wants would soon be approved by Congress, which has held up the delivery over concerns that the equipment might be misused. He said the attack helicopters will be used against the surging militant forces affiliated with or inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Kerry was the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the former army chief who easily won election in May. Although he represents a return to elected rule, as the United States had urged, his military ties and crackdown on opponents and others undercut his democratic credentials.

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