What's a War Rug?
An anomaly of one of Afghanistan's greatest cultural exports, War Rugs became popular during Soviet occupation of the country back in the 1980s.
Traditional depictions of breathtaking floral patterns, cities, and historical figures would be replaced with tanks, guns, aircraft, and depicting mujahideen figures like Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Appearing in Bazaars, Soviet occupiers absolutely loved the new designs, and brought many home as commemorative pieces. The same love for the rugs would catch on among members of the US Military some years later.
Newer rugs depict historical events like 9/11, The disastrous Kabul airport evacuation, and even the war in Ukraine...
How Big are the Rugs?
(If you're looking to bring the whole room together)
We refer to sizes of rugs by their Area in square meters, as does our supplier.
To approximate how much space the rug will take up, you can tape a square with the given size (for instance, a 1.25m rug would have 125cm sides)
Note that rug sizes vary slightly. most will be rectangular, but some may be longer. Use our photos and info on the product page for best judgement.
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Kalashnikovs
As the name implies, 4, kalashnikovs (or sometimes just 1 or 2) in a vertical formation, usually with "tanks" and "helicopters" in the middle.
An alternate '4 AK' pattern with the words "death of Russia" can also be found, most likely alluding to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Helicopters, RPGs, grenades, and tanks fill the empty space of the rug with additional smaller munitions seen.
RPGs
4 Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers stacked in a vertical formation with smaller tanks, helicopters and grenades in between.
Arsenal
A variety of weapons are shown, but most prominently are the Kalashnikov and M-16 on top. Below them are various ground & air vehicles, grenades, & rifles.
War Map
A depiction of russian vehicles exiting Afghanistan, with numerous text labels for the various arms, and the Afghanistan tricolor flag (now banned by the taliban) flying over the country. May include arabic text & when the pattern was woven (see: "2022")
Flags
Flags of the countries heavily involved in afghanistan have been commonly woven into rugs. These may include the US, UK, and even Australia. The US flag shown here has an incomplete crest, and crests wildly vary rug to rug.
Battle of Tora Bora
A map of Afghanistan, and a depiction of the battle of Tora Bora with the UK, American, and tricolor Afghanistan flag shown with a dove of peace. Bordering countries are also labeled. The Jet is prominent due to the heavy air strikes leading up to the operation in December 2001.
Territories
A map showing the various reigons of afghanistan, with sometimes readable labels of neighboring countries, notably the outdated "USSR" dating back to Soviet occupation. This design iterates off of world-famous map-rug designs that have long been an Afghan staple.
Sidearm
A busier pattern showing Makarov pistols, small russian helicopters & jets, tanks, and grenades. A larger light tank is shown in the middle, and the extra space is filled with even smaller jets and helicopters.
US Soloiers
An obvious misspelling of soldiers, this rug depicts the US invasion of Afghanistan with air power. F16 Fighter jets, chinook helicopters, Drones, and B-52s are seen among other small arms. The notable features are the phrases "AFGHANS LIBERATED FROM TERRORISTS" and "LONG LIVE US SOLOIERS" as well as 'PENTAGON' and 'WTC'.
Afghan War Weapons
A more american-centric design, featuring the M4 carbine, a Humvee and an "army" drone. We have doubts that they know the difference between army and air force drones, but at least they labeled it.
AK 47 Made In Afghanistan
Don't be misled - they're not claiming that AKs are made in Afghanistan, they're talking about the rugs, hence the date of weaving '2023' also indicated... These are a simple design fit for any AK nerd's cave.
Opium Poppy & AK
Featuring the opium poppy flowers in the foreground, this style shows a much more detailed depiction of the Kalashnikov in the middle, along with a Russian "Hind" helicopter on top and stinger missile on bottom.
Atropia
Featuring a turtle & a familiar-looking MP3 player for reasons we'll never understand, "Atropia" refers to a fictionalized country used by the military during training. Below the iPod is a Humvee and 2 AKs.
Opium
Another Opium Poppy rug featuring an arrangement of flowers. The word "OPIUM" is woven into the design as if it wasn't obvious enough. Much less a "war rug" than many of the others, but still part of our collection.
Tank Crew
A classic Soviet-Afghan war design featuring a tank crew, a map of Afghanistan's provinces, and several other illustrations of small arms and vehicles. The tank flies the (now former) colors of Afghanistan.
9/11 Pattern Rugs
On the original design, this was meant to be 'September 2001', when the attacks happened. However, some weavers mistake this area as a "Made in 20XX" and will put the date of weaving here. We've seen rugs that depict 9/11 as happening in "2021"...
Another common misspelling by the weavers, often resulting in things such as "The terrors were in America" and "The terrors were america".
Illustrations of the planes that struck the towers are shown, with "american flight" most likely referring to American airlines.
On this rug, the word "Impact" also includes "USA" and "flight" is spelled with a 6 instead of a 'g'
Explosions are also shown before the planes hit...
Small stick figures are seen jumping out of the world trade centers. these were inspired by many of the horrifying images taken as the upper floors of the towers burned before collapse.
An American flag & an Afghan flag merged with a dove of peace in the middle, most likely symbolizing the anti-terror efforts following the attacks.
Afghanistan's outline is seen in the background behind the World Trade Centers.
A presumably unknown missile & an aircraft carrier are shown. This is most likely alluding to the initial air strikes on Afghanistan.
Drone Pattern War Rugs
A depiction of the MQ-1 Predator dones. Newer rugs depict newer drones such as the AQ-9 Reaper, But the pictured rug's pattern is far more common. Other surveilance craft can sometimes be seen on the rugs as well.
Since the beginning of the global war on terror, drones were responsible for over 13 thousand known strikes.
They're growing to be as common of an appearance on rugs as the Kalashnikovs and RPGs of the past — indicative of the lasting effects of war on Afghanistan's culture.
Who is 'Lucky Kevin?' — the "Archnemesis" of the consumer War Rug trade
The longer war rugs stay on the market, the more iterations and changes naturally occur as artisans continue to weave them — Including "copyrighted" designs from the west!
We learned about him the hard way.
In this short blog post, we talk about the Kevin in question, his massive collection of war rugs, a copyright strike spree, and how one other man raised his middle finger & permanently carved the name "Kevin" onto variants of the drone rug in a hilarious, vulgar fashion...
The Fall of Afghanistan
Chaos at Kabul's airport following the United States "pulling out" of Afghanistan became world-wide news as C-130s begun to take off from the airfield with unexpected passengers.
10 Days later, a suicide bombing conducted by ISIS-K would kill 182, 13 of which were members of the US military.
During the fall of Kabul, cargo planes filled to the brim with people evacuated the airport as the city fell into chaos and the Taliban closed in nearby.
Below it, the Kabul airport is shown with a rising inferno as parts of the city were razed by the Taliban.
In the ensuing chaos, people attempted to escape Kabul by hiding in the landing gear as the planes took off on the mobbed runways.
This rug depicts the haunting viral videos seen around the world of the landing-gear stowaways failing to hang on during takeoff.
War rugs are commonly depictions of the feelings of those displaced by the conflicts in Afghanistan.
Referring to the United States closing their occupation of Afghanistan as "The Fall" probably doesn't fly with the Taliban security forces that now control the country.
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Ahmad Shah Massoud
An extremely prominent figure of the struggle against the Taliban from the mid-80s through the 90s, Massoud is seen on countless rugs. It was very common to see prominent religious & military leaders woven onto rugs as a form of propaganda.
Massoud was Assassinated the day before 9/11, and warned of the attacks happening to the EU parliament months earlier — allegedly an action by the Taliban to get support from Osama Bin Laden
Red Tanks
Typically the largest and busiest, these feature dozens of tanks, helicopters, airplanes, and fill every space with a beautiful mix of deep colors.
Tank Columns
These come in a variety of sizes, and depict beautifully ornate tank columns, airplanes, and kalashnikovs with intricate trims. By far one of the most interesting artistic depictions of vehicles we've seen.
Kalashnikovs
This very large pattern rug features lines of grenades, tanks, transport planes, and Kalashnikovs. For size reference, the AKs are identical in size on all of the rugs.
Arsenal + Map
Another very busy design featuring what we're lovingly referring to as the "America Gun" front and center. These are usually the most colorful rugs, but not as common as the other variants shown here.
ISAF
ISAF or the International Security Assistance Force was the primary NATO-led military power that assisted Afghanistan security, reconstruction, and development from the early 2000s to the early 2010s.
Further Unique Designs
Most other variants we've seen toe the line of being war rugs, but depict famous structures in Afghanistan, historical events, religious figures, and stories from the Quran.
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