Amanollah Khan War Rug

Zakini Tribe

Ca. 1980s

3’3” x 4’9”

This portrait rug depicts the early 20^th century king of Afghanistan, Amanollah Khan, and represents an iconography that is still produced to this day. A.U.K. as he is referred to colloquially, was a modernizing force and is thus shown in European-style military garb. He took over leadership from his father, Habibollah Khan, in 1919. This set-off the third of three Anglo-Afghan wars between Great Britain and Afghanistan. Having many financial and political interests in their Middle Eastern and South Asian colonies, and fearing the powerful Russian incursions into the region, Britain wanted a protective buffer and looked to Afghanistan to provide it. Amanollah Khan declared independence from Britain. A gesture only confirmed with the English loss to Afghanistan in the short war between 1919-1920. Amanollah Khan reigned for 10 years, during which time he attempted to pattern his country after Turkey, which was undergoing a secular transformation with the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Religious forces would, as in so many periods of Afghan history, overturn these efforts. Note the weapons depicted around the legs of the figure.

Hamid Karzai

Turkman Tribe, Artist: Mrs. Salah, Turkmen refugee still in Pakistan.

2003

2’ x 3’

Depicting the current president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, this rug design is clearly based on photographic sources. The skilled use of subtly varied shades of dyed wool achieves the painted appearance and highly representational quality of the design. Portrait rugs have had a lengthy history as part of a pictorial tradition in tribal rugweaving. This artist was reportedly influenced by the Massoud rug also depicted on this wall (See description below).

Massoud Rug

Artist: An unknown Afghan weaver in Kabul

Turkman Tribe

2003

1’11” x 2’9”

This showcases the high quality of design and weaving of an unknown. The dominant imagery of the rug represents a portrait of the well-loved Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Massoud was an ethnic Tajik who fought in the resistance effort against the Soviets, then later, the Taliban. During the 1992-1996 period, during the Burhanuddin Rabbani Afghan government, Massoud served as Defense Minister. He fled the capital of Kabul in 1996 when the Taliban overthrew the government and proceeded to fight them until his assassination by an Al-Queda undercover operator on September 9^th, 2001. The inscription has been translated as roughly: “martyr, the head of our resistance, great mujahideen whose fate was given by God.”

The Installation of Najibullah

Turkman Tribe

Ca. 1991-1993

2’2” x 3’1”

A popular design during the early years of the 1990s, following the Soviet’s installation of Communist leader Dr. Najibullah Ahmadzai, a native Afghan who had supported the Soviet efforts during the Soviet-Afghan war. Note the hammer and sickle tattooed on Najibullah’s head and the Soviet hand (also marked by the hammer and sickle) literally lowering the puppet-leader into Afghanistan, represented by the map of the country. U.S.S.R. fighter jets fly towards Afghanistan and native Afghans aim the Kalashnikovs at their unwelcome leader. He would eventually be ousted by the Mujahideen in 1992 and by 1996 he was assassinated by Taliban forces. Note the pastoral scene of Pakistan in the lower right quadrant of the rug’s design representing refugees within the safer borders of Pakistan.

Zia ul-Haq Portrait

Turkman Tribe

Ca. early 1990s

1’8” x 1’10”

The inscription woven into this rug reads, “General Mahamud Zia ul-Haq martyr - martyr of Afghanistan - Martyr of Islam, Pakistan.” It is understood by the rug’s collector that the black shirt symbolized this individual’s deceased status. Zia ul-Haq (b. August 12, 1924 - August 17, 1988)was killed, along with the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel, in a suspicious mid-air explosion of their airplane shortly after the official end of the Afghan-Soviet war on August 17^th, 1988. Zia ul-Haq was the military leader and president of Pakistan between 1977 and his death in 1988. He arose to power after overthrowing Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on July 5^th, 1977 at which point he imposed martial law. Bhutto was the father of the recently assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.