SYNOPSIS OF TUNISIAN MEDIA RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S NEW

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