JEDDAH, 19 October 2004 — Following the decision of the Qatari and Jordanian television stations not to broadcast the new Ramadan serial “The Road to Kabul”, the controversial drama has gained in popularity among Saudi audiences.
The Jordanian-made serial, featuring Jordanian and Syrian actors, tells the Afghan story, from the Soviet occupation in the 1980s to the US invasion in October 2001.
An official source at the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) told Arab News that the Qatari television which finances the serial asked MBC and other televisions to stop broadcasting the serial because of technical problems, not because of threats from an Islamic group.
Despite the call of Qatari television, MBC is running the serial for the third day in a row and received only eight episodes from the Qataris so far.
Here in Saudi Arabia and after three days of the broadcast of “The Road to Kabul” Saudi viewers had nothing to talk about for this year’s Ramadan programs but the Jordanian drama and most of them are eagerly waiting to watch the rest of the episode.
“After the first three episodes, the overall reaction was enthusiastic with people anxious to see more of it,” said Nasir Al Otaibi, a teacher.
“We do not really know for sure who is behind this decision; we doubt the threats of this Islamic group but, believe me, everybody thinks that the United States is behind all this,” he said.
Hussain Ba Qader, who has not seen any episode of the controversial drama, said that after all the talk, he will watch it.
“I am really curious to watch the whole serial in order to know the real story of Afghanistan.”
Amin Al-Isawi told Arab News that the serial probably will cause some problems to the United States and therefore, the American government has interfered with the Qataris to stop it because the upcoming episodes will feature the US invasion of Afghanistan.
“The story is all about the relationship between a young Afghan woman and a Palestinian man who meet in London and eventually go to live in Afghanistan.
“The producer has linked the two cases together in a drama which has captured the attention of many people around the world and the United States does not like that,” he said.
