SRMG launches Asharq Documentary: Revisiting global issues from an Arab perspective

Since objective documentation resonates with the rational mindset that prevails in the West, the channel is likely to cement Arab influence deeper than any other influential sector. In the long run, Asharq Documentary seeks to become the voice of the Arab world with a well-informed and accurate media discourse.

Bridging a historical gap

Asharq Documentary was launched in response to a recent survey that revealed that over 80% of viewers in the MENA region are eager to watch more and higher-quality Arabic content.

Its sister channel, Asharq News, has already aired over 400 hours of quality documentaries that garnered strong viewership figures and positive audience engagement, underscoring a healthy appetite for high-quality Arabic language documentaries in the region.

To fulfil the exceptional demand in the region for this type of content, Asharq Documentary stepped in. With state-of-the-art production technologies, the channel will be equipped to monitor, document, and tackle issues — while upholding the highest international standards — and offer programmes of exceptional value to viewers across the region.

Commenting on the launch, Jomana Alrashid, CEO of SRMG, said: "The MENA region currently lacks a comprehensive Arabic language documentary channel that delves into the topics shaping our world today." 

Alrashid described the new channel as "a multi-platform dedicated to uncovering the stories behind the trending headlines and delving deeper into the related facts and information."

She added: "Asharq Documentary is a further example of SRMG's growth and expansion strategy to stay at the forefront of change by providing our audience with high-quality and thought-provoking content."

Alrashid indicated that in-depth analysis is the only path to creating objective and reliable knowledge of world events, as viewers nowadays are overwhelmed with an endless influx of news headlines and details that shroud facts.

The channel's mission, according to Alrashid, is to scrutinise and examine this torrent of information to identify the essence, and then translate this whole process into a full-fledged cultural product that meets SRMG's ambitions and vision.

On his part, Mohammed Al Yousei, Manager of Asharq Documentary, said: "Asharq Documentary aims to become the leading platform for prominent political documentaries, providing in-depth coverage of regional and international events."

"Asharq Documentary will produce factual films covering a wide range of topics including politics, economics, business, and history. The multi-platform offers in-depth insights and analysis utilising state-of-the-art technology in our production process, to bring the content to life."

According to Al Yousei, the channel will approach global events, history, and economic shifts through deep analysis and thorough examination by leveraging the latest production technologies to present the true Arab perspective.

Al Yousei indicated that Asharq Documentary will serve as a platform to revisit established and deep-rooted notions and information while also presenting current global events through an objective and precise documentation process.

Debunking myths

On the occasion of its launch, Asharq Documentary ran "America and the Taliban" — a three-part documentary that the channel granted Al Majalla access to ahead of its screening.

The documentary is made by American filmmaker Martin Smith, who chronicles the tragic transformation of Afghanistan into a battlefield for internal and proxy wars.

Smith's thorough investigation covers the Taliban's rise and fall and its ultimate takeover of the country since the emergence of the movement and until the full withdrawal of US troops on 31 August 2021.

Smith spares no effort in his quest for the truth. The documentary features several interviews with Taliban leaders as well as US officials and troops, as well as conversations with Afghan citizens who lost relatives in the war or partook in battles.

Through on-the-ground reporting and analysis, the documentary tries to map out the bloody events with analyses that combine the psychological, emotional, political, religious, social, and historical elements of the Afghan tragedy in a coherent narrative that relays the facts as they are.  

"America and the Taliban" examines how the successive American administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden shaped America's policies in Afghanistan.

More importantly, the documentary accentuates the striking similarity between the US rhetoric of fighting terrorism and defending democracy and the Taliban discourse of defending the true religion of Islam.

Furthermore, the documentary exposes the catastrophic practices of US troops in a war they had lost before it even started, and how these practices helped legitimise the Taliban's actions.

Two sides of the same coin

Smith's documentary shows how the US drastically failed to form a strong local government that established successful alliances and won the hearts of Afghans. 

Meanwhile, the repressive, extremist movement leveraged the recurring mistakes of US troops – from night raids and daily home incursions that violated personal privacy to military operations based on inaccurate intelligence that caused civil casualties – to polish its image as a group of freedom fighters.

The documentary shows how such practices sowed the seeds of hatred among Afghans for their pro-Western government and US presence as a whole.

Amid this growing hatred, former President Hamid Karzai was forced to express his adamant disapproval of such practices, which were gradually reinforcing the glorification of suicide bombers just as the Taliban was working to re-establish suicide attacks as one of their key weapons.

The practices of US troops shifted the image of suicide bombers in the minds of Afghans. They were no longer viewed as terrorists who butcher people indiscriminately for the sake of their extremist organization; but as respectable freedom fighters on a mission to avenge the violated honour of the Afghan people.

The interviews with Taliban leaders underline the terrifying resemblance between two powers that are supposedly as dissimilar as it gets.

When Smith corners Taliban leaders to justify the huge numbers of civilian casualties, they evoke the logic of war necessities – the same logic the Americans offer in response to the same question. As if the two enemies were one and the same, the US troops and the Taliban both showed no regard whatsoever for the lives of civilians.

US policies

"America and the Taliban" shows how Obama's strategy to win the hearts and minds of Afghanis, or "fight the insurgency" as it was dubbed, was a telltale sign of the US Administration's complete ignorance of the nature and specificity of the Afghan society.

Simply put, the US did not have the competence to craft a strategy that could address the issues rooted deep within that society.

The documentary sheds light on the Obama Administration's strong belief in that strategy as the assured path for Afghanistan's salvation, almost like a doctrine instead of a political, social, and field plan.

That strategy was trying to alter the mindset of an ancient, multicultural, and multilingual society that suffered for long decades of conflict through some 21,000 soldiers conversing with locals without any ability –let alone desire– to understand them and the complexities of their daily lives.

So naïve was the strategy that even current president and then vice-president Joe Biden vehemently criticised it.

When Donald Trump was in the White House, he did not pull the plug on that strategy, despite his reservations. Instead, he began the gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which would be completed under his successor, in a catastrophic chaos that gave the Taliban the country on a silver platter.

Two decades of conflict for nothing. Afghanistan was back where it started.

Women under Taliban

"America and the Taliban" also sheds light on the social aspect of the conflict, by approaching the plight of Afghan women under the extremist organisation through several short but loud statements.

Read more: Banned from schools, Afghan girls face bleak future

During an interview with a Taliban figure, Smith asks about Afghan women and their right to education. The man dismisses Smith's question: "Such issues do not concern us."

The documentary highlights how the Taliban's contempt for women further intensified as the organisation gained more control over the country. Once it was the de-facto ruler, women became nobodies in Afghan society, deprived not only of education but of any presence in the public sphere.

By showcasing some inspiring examples of the struggles of Afghan women, Smith sends a message of support to women through the purely objective facts he presents to the public.

By choosing to air "America and the Taliban" upon its launch, Asharq Documentary is offering a glimpse into the independent and impartial filmmaking that can be expected from it — one aimed at countering the terrorist and extremist mindset by investigating its foundational components.

Likewise, the channel will seek to debunk myths and counter the superficial influx of news and information through thorough analysis and the constant pursuit of truth, which is the core and essence of journalism.