Obama pledged during the campaign to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital within the first few months of taking office. Picking a site proved challenging for a range of reasons — from diplomacy to security — and the decision took longer than expected, with Obama commissioning options from a research team.

Having settled on Egypt, the White House will announce soon that he is adding a stop there to an upcoming overseas trip, presumably his early June visit to Normandy for the anniversary of D-Day.