VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1425 3380822
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040822Z DEC 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2859
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9560
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0951

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001425 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - THOMAS HAMM 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ADDRESS ON AFGHANISTAN 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage December 4 on the lead-up to the city mayors' and county 
magistrates' elections scheduled for December 5; and on a 
Taiwan-born fashion designer, who won the award in the Gen Art's 
Styles International Design Competition's "avant-gardes" category in 
New York on Wednesday .  In terms of editorials and commentaries, a 
column in the KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed U.S. President 
Barack Obama's Tuesday address on Afghanistan and questioned the 
viability of Obama's plan to duplicate the United States' strategy 
in Iraq and use it in Afghanistan.  End summary. 
 
"Is It Viable to Duplicate the 'Iraq Strategy' in Afghanistan?" 
 
The "International Lookout" column in the KMT-leaning "China Times" 
[circulation: 120,000] wrote (12/4): 
 
"It appears that the U.S. government is moving the strategy it 
implemented in Iraq 'to pretend to move ahead in order to hide its 
intention to retreat' to Afghanistan.  Should this be the case, it 
is perhaps because [U.S. President Barack] Obama failed to come up 
with any better resolution and will just give this a try for the 
time being.  But the strategy 'to pretend to move ahead in order to 
hide its intention to retreat' only produced effects in Iraq for a 
while and cannot resolve the problem completely.  Besides, 
Afghanistan is no Iraq; will it really work if one uses pain killers 
for a headache to cure diarrhea? ... 
 
"In Afghanistan, Obama is also thinking of sending more troops there 
in the short run, and has urged other 'allies' to do the same.  But 
unlike the armed groups scattered within the boundary of Iraq, the 
Taliban is an organized armed force with rich combat experience. 
The armed groups in Iraq aim to push the U.S. troops out of its 
territory by encircling and harassing them.  But the goal of the 
Taliban is to regain political power in Afghanistan, and with the 
support of some of the Afghanistan people, particularly the 
Pashtuns, it will be difficult for the United States to undermine 
and isolate it. ...  What about Afghanistan?  One can use 'a great 
mess' to sum up the recent presidential election in Afghanistan, 
where those in charge of election matters were involved in 
fraudulent practices and the opposition factions did not recognize 
the legitimacy of the election results.  Even the United States 
could not do anything about it; all it could do was to force itself 
to recognize the corrupt Karzai administration.  Will this 
administration be able to rule Afghanistan for the United States?" 
 
 
STANTON