Egyptians protest what they think is American support for the Muslim Brotherhood in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo during Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit Saturday. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi still struggles with supporters of the old regime. (Khalil Hamra, The Associated Press)

CAIRO — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met for the first time Saturday with Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, whose country remains politically unsettled more than a year and a half after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

"Things change at kind of a warp speed," Clinton said as the two sat briefly before cameras, she on a sofa, he in a chair.

Morsi spoke in English about the speed of change. Then the former Muslim Brotherhood member — once imprisoned by the repressive government that the United States supported for decades — welcomed Clinton.

"We are very, very keen to meet you and happy that you are here," Morsi said as reporters were ushered out of the room.

Morsi, who took office last month, has yet to name a Cabinet. The Egyptian parliament is in limbo, and the new constitution remains unwritten. Morsi spent most of the week before Clinton's visit embroiled in a power struggle with vestiges of the former government that showed how blurred the lines of power remain.

There's no helping the timing, analysts said. Neither country can wait for tidier conditions before beginning to restitch one of the most important strategic relationships in the region.

"What she will see is a newly elected president for the first time, but a country that is still defining itself," said Nabil Fahmy, a former Egyptian ambassador to the United States and now dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo. "The U.S.-Egyptian relationship is too important for either side to be complacent about. You do as much as you can during each phase of the process."

Clinton's discussions with Morsi and other top officials will combine expressions of support for Egypt's democratic transition with more detailed talks about financial aid, economic investment and military support that the United States is offering, according to senior U.S. officials traveling with Clinton.

In particular, she will discuss elements of a billion-dollar aid package to help revive Egypt's economy, as well as a debt swap aimed at creating jobs for young Egyptians and other economic-investment programs.

On security, Clinton will discuss ways the United States can support Egyptian counterterrorism efforts, especially in the Sinai region, including "equipment, technical capacity and other training," the officials said in a background briefing to reporters.

On the political front, officials said, Clinton is mostly coming to listen, to try to gain some insight into where Morsi, the military council and other stakeholders stand on Egypt's democratic transition.

"She is not coming with prescriptions or with a specific set of proposals, but rather she is going to seek to better understand from them how they intend to proceed," one of the U.S. officials said. "She will stress her deep belief that Egypt's democracy can be successful and that the aspirations of the revolution can only be redeemed if the rights of all are protected — including religious minorities and women."

Clinton met with Morsi and Egypt's foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, she is to meet with the head of Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, and travel to the port city of Alexandria to meet a range of civil society and women's groups, as well as Christian leaders.

The meeting caps a week that marks Morsi's international coming-out. He paid his first state visit last week, to Saudi Arabia. The new president's economic plan depends largely on attracting billions in investments from the Gulf states.