Sources familiar with the matter say that Robert Ford — the highly-respected, Arabic-speaking career diplomat and current ambassador to Syria — was withdrawn from consideration for the Cairo post after some representatives of Egypt’s military regime quietly indicated that they didn’t want him in the job because of his stated willingness to negotiate with some of Syria’s Islamist militants and political groups.

Secretary of State John Kerry tapped Ford for the post this summer, and the White House had hoped to formally nominate him early next year. Instead, people familiar with the situation say the administration has decided to keep Ford in his current job in Syria — and its primary intermediary to the country’s fractious opposition groups — and find a new pick for the high-profile Cairo slot. With the Senate out of session and mired in partisan deadlock, that could take months.

Obama administration officials confirm that Ford faced some opposition in Cairo, but said the primary reason that he won’t be getting the position is the importance of his current job as the primary U.S. liaison to Syria’s rebels. Ford has spent the past few months shuttling between Washington, Geneva and Istanbul as part of an effort to persuade opposition leaders to take part in peace talks scheduled for late January.