From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs

Museum of International Folk Art, Cultural Institute in Santa Fe, NM.

Afghan “war rugs” gained international attention following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 when millions of refugees began fleeing in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. This unique subset of handwoven rugs can teach us about the innovative nature of rug design and production, as well as the long history of foreign involvement in Afghanistan.

Rug producers, provoked by decades of traders and invaders in their country, adapted traditional motifs and compositions, translating them into depictions of world maps, tourist sites, weapons, and military figures. Such war rugs proven popular among occupying military personnel, journalists, foreign aid workers, international collectors, and contemporary art curators. Over the years, rug makers have continued to update popular imagery and themes to reflect current events, changing technologies, and the taste of potential buyers.

The emergence of war-related imagery in Afghan war rug design has aided the economic survival area of weavers and displaced craftspeople through the years of armed conflict and cultural disruption. What rug wars means to the individual weavers is less understood. Are war rugs a celebration of modernity or a rejection of war? Are they the witness to shared trauma or a commercialization of current events? Are they testament to ingenuity and a spirit to survival? Perhaps they are all of these things at once.

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