VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0891 3390906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 050906Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7051
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TUNIS 000891 
 
SIPDIS 
 
R/PPR FOR DAVIDSON; ALSO FOR NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO AF TS
SUBJECT: SYNOPSIS OF TUNISIAN MEDIA RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S NEW 
AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY 
 
Ref: STATE 122234 
 
¶1. (U) Per paragraph four of Reftel, Embassy disseminated widely 
electronic copies of President's speech about his new strategic 
direction in Afghanistan delivered at West Point on December 2.  The 
Information Officer (IO) emailed Arabic and French copies of the 
speech to post's media contacts and bloggers, and featured the 
speech prominently with accompanying background information and 
photos on Post's public, trilingual website.  The IO also posted a 
link to the speech on Post's Facebook page and invited viewers to 
post their thoughts or opinions about the new strategy in the 
comments section of the Facebook page.  After talking to some of our 
Tunisian interlocutors, the impression we have formed is that 
Tunisians are more seized with the Israel/Palestinian problem than 
with the new Afghanistan policy unveiled by the President. 
 
¶2. (U) Coverage of President Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan has 
run the spectrum from wary to pessimistic.  La Presse, Tunisia's 
most widely read French-language daily, reported December 3 on its 
front page that the President affirmed that "Afghanistan is not 
lost", and that "American strategists expect that 30,000 additional 
troops will play a crucial role in weakening the Taliban."  An 
editorial in the same newspaper said that President Obama's strategy 
is similar to Bush's strategy on Iraq at the end of his time in 
office, and wondered, "But will this strategy, which has succeeded 
to cut Al Qaeda wings in Iraq, succeed to stifle Al Qaida in 
Afghanistan?"  The author then opined that Obama's strategy differs 
in that Al Qaeda in Iraq is a foreign entity while "the Taliban are 
an integral part of Afghani society and culture".  Another editorial 
asked "Would the 30,000 additional soldiers succeed to help achieve 
in eighteen months what could not be done in eight years?" and said 
that "With a corrupted Afghanistan and a population alienated from 
the Taliban, Afghanistan seems to be much more complicated than 
Vietnam." 
 
¶3. More negatively, As-Sabah Arabic-language daily opined on its 
front page December 4 that Obama's new strategy is wrong, and that 
"Once again American President Obama has confirmed that the hopes 
set on him by the Nobel Peace Prize committee was a mistake."  The 
author continued:  "Here is Obama choosing to continue the same 
trend by using the same speech to justify continuing the strategy of 
aggression, killing and destruction through his decision to send new 
reinforcement to Afghanistan.... it is certain that U.S. interests, 
its power and hegemony in the world will suffer the most from this 
policy."  Another As-Sabah commentary grimly opined that "Obama's 
adventure in Afghanistan is a repetition of the Soviet defeat" in 
that country. 
 
DESJARDINS