AFGHAN WAR RUGS
AT ASIAN TRADE, PART III
All rugs offered on this page will be accompanied by a portfolio
of photographs of the equipment depicted on the rug.
This page was updated 9/2/03
Ron O'Callaghan
Oriental Rug Review
Asian Trade
Old Kelley Tavern
74 Sinclair Hill Road
New Hampton, NH 03256
(603) 744-9191
ronocal@lr.net
http://www.rugreview.com
Vegetable Dye Afghan War Rug No. E718 -- $295 (SOLD)
2'x2'7". The main icon on this rug is the paratroop version of the AK-47. Paratroops, Spetsnaz - SPETSialnoe NAZnachenie - special purpose, analogous to our Special Forces, and tankers were offered the option of having either the full stock version of the rifle or this cut down version with a folding metal stock (note the folding stock just forward of the hand grip). Other weaponry includes an RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade launcher with a shaped granade loaded, a Hip-8 troop carrying helicopter, a Markarov officer's sidearm, fragmentation hand grenades, a Hind m-24 attack helicopter, and two BDM2 armored personnel carriers. The border is of polychromed cartridges.
Click here for an enlarged image of half this rug
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cartridges in a poppy field
E106 Afghan Turkoman War Rug, 2'1"x2'9" - $175.00
The red field is dominated by two Soviet AK-47 assault rifles. They are accompanied by BMD-2 armored fighting vehicles, HIP-8 troop carrying helicopters, and a Soviet fighter/bomber. On the border are cartridges
Follow this link to a close-up of half the rug.
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A narrow and dangerous passage
No. C798. Larger Veg. Dye Afghan War Rug -- $575.00
This is a beautiful vegetable (natural) dyed rug made with hand-spun wool, 3'4"x5'4". It was made in Northern Pakistan by Ersari Turkoman refugees from Northern Afghanistan. The lovely madder root red field bears alternating ranks of RPG-7s, rocket propelled grenade launchers, BMD-2 armored personnel carriers, fragmentation hand grenades, Hind M-24 attack helicopters, Markarov officers' side arms, and Hip-8 troop carrying helicopters. The indigo blue border bears a column of BMD-2 armored personnel carriers. The landscape of Afghanistan is littered with the wreckages of BMD-2s. They proved extremely vulnerable to a variety of anti-armor weapons and attack strategies, loaded, as they were with extra fuel and ammunition. "They were prone to explode," a friend who is a veteran of the Afghan/Soviet war once told us. The rug is dated "1983", which we consider apochryphal. We believe it was woven in the Civil War period, c. 1993-96.
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Hind M-24 Attack helicopters
3. E826 Afghan Baluch War Rug, 3'6"x5' - $295.00
Arrayed on the red field of this rug are four AK-47 assault rifles Filling in on the field are armored fighting vehicles, BDM-2s, Hip-8 troop carrying helicopters, and fragmentation grenades. Cartridges adorn the border.
Follow this link to a close-up of half the rug.
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Panjsher. February 1987. The column from the 682nd Motor Infantry Regiment is under fire.
4. D731 Afghan Baluch War Rug, 2'x2'7" - $225.00
This is an unusually finely woven example of the war rug type at 195 knots per square in (see direct scan of back below). The main theme here is the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pictured is a map of Afghanistan with a highway in the north on which a column of Soviet armored vehicles is leaving the country, probably going over the "Friendship" bridge into Soviet Uzbekistan SSR (ironies abounded during the Afghan/Soviet War). Also on the rug is a variety of Soviet military equipment, most of which was also used against them by the Afghan Mujihadeen. We have an AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle in its normal full-stock configuration. Near the top of the rug is the paratroop version of the AK-47 rifle. Armored vehicles include three tanks, one having just been hit by an anti-tank weapon. The other armored vehicles shown are smaller armored personnel carriers (BMD-2s) or fighting vehicles such as the BTR-70. Two RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade launchers also appear. Two different types of hand grenades are shown, fragmentation grenades with their scored surfaces and smooth surfaced grenades that are either concussion grenades or colored smoke grenades for signalling. One Soviet fighter/bomber is shown aflame and a number of HIND M-24 attack helicopters appear; two in down-nose attack mode and four in normal patrol mode. A number of inscriptions appear on the rug including "Long Live Afghanistan" in Farsi (Persian) and in English "Russian Aggressors."
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Afghan Mujihadeen waiting for something to fly by
F361 Baluch Zarkini War Rug, 3'6"x6'11" - $385.00
This rug was woven by a branch of the Baluch called Zarkini, a weaving group located in the Herat area of Western Afghanistan. On the pistachio-green field, on the central medallion and on the spandrels (corners) of this rug are a multitude of Soviet Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, horses, animals of the feline persuasion, birds, and humanoids, to wit, women. On the border are two bands of bird repeats.
Follow this link to a close-up of half the rug.
Follow this link to adirect scan on the face of the rug.
Follow this link to a direct scan on the face of the rug.
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Material recaptured from the Mujihadeen
E868 - $245. (SOLD We have Several More pieces Nearly Identical)
Afghan War Rug, US in Afghanistan, Tora Bora, Operation Anaconda, 2'1"x2'11"
This rug was made in Northern Pakistan by Ersari Turkoman refugees from Northern Afghanistan. On the camel field is a map of Afghanistan on which is superimposed mountains and the legend "TORA BURA". It was at Tora Bora that the climactic battle, Operation Anaconda, of the US war in Afghanistan occurred. It was there that US and Afghan Northern Alliance forces had run Osama Bin Ladin and his inner circle to ground. They were sure they had him because they heard him issuing orders via his cell phone. Then he turned his phone over to a Moroccan lieutenant and they both took off in opposite directions, the Moroccan talking a blue streak on the phone. US forces captured the Moroccan and the phone and it is presumed that Bin Ladin escaped the area. Across the top of the rug is an RPG-7, a rocket propelled grenade launcher. Pictured also is a US M-16 rifle, jet fighter/bombers, one marked "F-16", a US CH-47 Chinook helicopter (this one taking off from Bagram Air Base to search for Taliban), and two M-1 Abrams tanks.
Follow this link to a direct scan on the face of the rug.
Follow this link to a direct scan on the face of the rug.
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Mujihadeen planting a mine
Afghan War Rug No. E509 -- $295 (SOLD)
3'4"x4'10" For a war rug this piece makes quite a political statement. Pictured are double images of a map of Afghanistan. There is a hand coming down from the Soviet Union (note the rudimentary hammer and sickle), its fingers raking bloody furrows on the land. Below the hand is the word "JIHAD," both a threat and a promise. On the upper left of the rug and on the lower right are two Soviet anti-aircraft weapons, a ZPU-2 and a ZPU-4, respectively. The ZPU-4 could be towed or mounted on a truck chassis as shown on this rug. The Soviets had no air opponents to use these weapons on, but ground commanders demanded them to bolster static fighting positions. It was a great tactical error for many of them fell into Mujihadeen hands and they had plenty of aircraft to shoot at. Also pictured are Hind M-21 assault helicopters and larger Hip-8 troop carrying helicopters, as well as Soviet armored vehicles, probably BMD-2s that appear on the rug's field and on the border. We also have Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles and Markarov officers' sidearms displayed.
Click here for an enlarged view of half the rug
Click here for a direct scan on the face of the rug
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Click here for a direct scan on the back of the rug
Afghan War Rug No. E719 -- $295
2'x2'7". The main icon on this rug is the paratroop version of the AK-47. Paratroops, Spetsnaz - SPETSialnoe NAZnachenie - special purpose, analogous to our Special Forces, and tankers were offered the option of having either the full stock version of the rifle or this cut down version with a folding metal stock (note the folding stock just forward of the hand grip). We also have a very rare appearance on this rug of a 122 mm. rocket on an improvised launcher. These were used during the Soviet phase of the war to great effect on Soviet installations, particularly air bases. During the later Civil War period the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, "the Engineer," surrounded Kabul with these weapons and devastated the city. Other weaponry includes an RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade launcher with a shaped grenade loaded, a Hip-8 troop carrying helicopter, a Markarov officer's sidearm, fragmentation hand grenades, many Hind m-24 attack helicopter, and two BDM2 armored personnel carriers. The border is of polychromed cartridges.
Click here for an enlarged image of half this rug
Click here for a direct scan on the face of the rug
Click here for a direct scan on the face of the rug
Click here for a direct scan on the face of the rug
Click here for a direct scan on the back of the rug
"Allahu Akbar!"
Ron O'Callaghan
Asian Trade
Sinclair Hill Rd.
New Hampton, NH 03256
(603) 744-9191
ronocal@lr.net
http://www.rugreview.com
Go to Another War Rug Article: "Afghan War Rugs; If it Walks Like a Duck...
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