(CAIRO) — Vice President Mike Pence and Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pledged a united front against terrorism in the Mideast as Pence, the highest-level American official to visit the U.S. ally in nearly a decade, began a trip through the region after leaving behind a government shutdown in Washington. Pence told reporters he raised the issue of two Americans who have been imprisoned for several years in Egypt, and that el-Sissi said “he would give personal attention” to their cases.