Afghan War Carpets

In the popular culture of the West, computer games nowadays provide the most detailed accounts of recents wars. Elsewhere, high-tech military exploits are visualised in a much more traditional way. Carpets have always been one of the chief ways in which stories are told in Afghanistan. In the past, carpets illustrated the symbols of life; today they are those of death. They show war scenes with helicopters, fighters and bombers, troops and Mujahaddeen in the Steppes or mountains, bird’s-eye views of villages and towns surrounded by tanks. Strangely, the way they are woven closely resembles the pixellated graphics of early computer games. Carpets from refugee camps appear even more abstract than home-woven examples.