From AK47s to drones, Afghans‘ war rugs’ reflect bloody decades

KABUL: More than three decades of war have damaged Afghanistan’s once-thriving carpet industry, but weavers are tapping into the bloody past to boost their fortunes with “war rugs” depicting guns, tanks and warplanes.
On Chicken Street, the most famous street in Afghanistan during the “hippie trail” tourist days of the late 60s and 70s and still the place to come for souvenirs, some of the carpets in the shops look like pages of the country’s wartorn history.
Since the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 Afghanistan has been in a state of near-constant conflict, and this strife is woven into the fabric — literally — of the woollen rugs.
Helicopters, tanks, Kalashnikovs, grenades, the Americans’ distinctive B-52 bombers and even drones form the designs, in place of the traditional patterns of landscapes and flowers.
One has a map of Afghanistan with “Tora Bora” marked — the suspected mountain hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, from where he fled the US-led invasion in late 2001.
Another carries a solemn reminder of the 9/11 attacks that prompted the invasion, showing the World Trade Centre’s twin towers with planes nearly hitting them, overlaid with Afghan and US flags and a peace dove.
Carpets with pictures of Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan leaving behind tanks and Kalashnikovs also feature.
The US-led war in Afghanistan brought with it a flood of expats — aid workers, diplomats and security contractors — bringing boom times for carpet sellers.
Now the expat population is falling fast, the rug industry is struggling and the transformation in styles is an attempt to attract more business from a dwindling band of foreigners.
A carpet showing the map of Afghanistan with US fighter planes around it and the words “terrorism”, “Pakistan”, “China”, “USA” and “Britain” costs between $30 and $300 depending on its quality.
Mohammad Anwar, 62, who has been in the business for over 40 years, says designs have to keep up with demand.
“These rugs with pictures of war in them are for gifts. Foreigners buy them and keep them as a reminder of what kind of country they have been to,” he told AFP.
Foreign soldiers used to be the main buyers, he said, but now very few of them remain after Nato’s drawdown of forces.