Afghan 9/11 Pattern War Rugs

Please note: unless otherwise stated, we're selling rugs by category of design and cannot guarantee you will get exactly what is pictured. This is due to the nature of each artisan taking the artistic liberty to make a design with whatever colors and styles they choose. Other factors that may be different include text, extra elements or lack thereof, and border style. All rugs will be 100% unique.

Background

Afghanistan has been invaded, on and off, since 300 BC — conflict is to Afghanistan what the cheeseburger is to the United States. As far as Afghan culture goes, the only thing that predates war is rug making.

It should come as no surprise then that Afghanistan would make its own version of the Whopperito™, combining an established national pastime with ethnic traditions. 

Handmade since the Soviet-Afghan war, war rugs are a bizarre cultural mash-up between Afghan pictorial weaving and images of conflict. Tanks, planes, guns, and explosions are painstakingly hand knotted into wool rugs in small Afghan villages and in refugee camps along the Pakistani border. Each rug is the unique result of over a month of work by the weaver and a valuable source of income for an Afghan family it supports.

9/11 rugs are a special subset of war rug which first started appearing almost immediately after the attacks on the Twin Towers. According to some, this kind of rug even predates 9/11, as some pieces were allegedly commissioned for ranking members of Al Qaeda prior to the attacks. 9/11 war rugs are made even odder still by the fact that practically no one in Afghanistan knows what 9/11 is, least of all the weaver making the rug.

Although widely made in the early 2000s, the 9/11 rug is becoming harder to find as weavers move toward more contemporary war rug designs. We worked with our supplier over several months to source this batch and will continue to look for more unique rugs for the next.

Specs

• Hand-woven wool yarn
• Classic and minimalist rugs measure roughly 80 x 60 (cm)
• Mixed mural rugs measures roughly 90 x 67 (cm)

Displaying Your Rug

These rugs are most frequently displayed on a wall. They can be placed on the ground, but it is more likely that they will be damaged or dirtied on the floor. 

If you place the rug on the floor, please use a high-quality carpet pad underneath it to prevent slipping and unnecessary wear.

If hanging your rug, we recommend you use a rod, or a long strip of 2" hook and loop fastener to evenly distribute its weight. There are several good tutorials online, and this small step will ensure your rug doesn't sag unevenly over time.

Cleaning Your Rug

DO NOT LAUNDER

If it gets dusty or dirty, hang your rug on a clothesline and beat it with a stick like it's 300 BC 202X AD.

If you want to be less crude about things, please contact a professional rug cleaning service specializing in artistic rugs (not carpet cleaners). The hand-woven construction and natural dyes used in these war rugs require special products and techniques to clean without permanent damage.