Does US have right tools to help success story like Tunisia?
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi’s Washington visit lays bare the limitations of US reliance on military aid.
Tunisia is doing everything right in Washington’s eyes, and that’s got US policymakers stumped.
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi’s visit during the last week laid bare the limitations of a Middle East policy that has long favored military assistance and anti-terrorism. Instead, the Arab Spring’s only success story is asking for help creating jobs and tackling poverty, forcing the United States to once again rethink its approach to the region.
“We have to have a conversation in Congress as to whether we have enough nonmilitary tools to help countries like Tunisia,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Al-Monitor after meeting with Essebsi on May 20.
“Right now, most of our wells are dry when it comes to economic assistance and so we can’t offer them as much as we should,” said Murphy, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations panel on the Near East. “Tunisia is a country that desperately needs more economic assistance from the United States, but under our current division of military and nonmilitary aid, there’s not a lot in the pot for them.”
