 | ID#:2099, Soviet Exodus This soviet exodus rug uses multicolored 'X' shapes to fill out the usually barren white space between the shapes of the weapons and vehicles. The tanks leave the red-colored Afghanistan on a blue road. The colors in this rug are brighter and richer than usual. |
 | ID#:1611, Red and Turquoise Soviet Exodus Rug This is a wonderfully colored Soviet Exodus rug. The orange, red, blue, and turquoise add character to the rug-- Afghanistan is colored in a deep red with the deep green line of tanks leading away from the country. There is a large amount of text throughout the background amongst the weaponry. The right side of the rug is dated USSR 1989 (usually these rugs are dated using the Persian Calendar, the fact that this rug is dated in English is interesting). |
 | ID#:1610, Blue Soviet Exodus War Rug This Soviet Exodus rug features very detailed and well drawn imagery as well as a unique light blue background to the tanks exiting Afghanistan. The olive green and light blue accents in this rug are a refreshing departure from the usual red and orange schemes. |
 | ID#:1609, Soviet Exodus War Rug with Silk/Mercerized Cotton Accent This soviet exodus rug woven by Afghan refugees in Pakistan features the standard components of this kind of rug. Tanks leave the country while helicopters enter, and anti aircraft vehicles drive along the bottom of the rug. One unique feature of this rug are the two small orange silk or mercerized cotton accents, one in the windows of a helicopter and the other in an explosion. |
 | ID#:1608, Early Soviet Exodus Rug with Yellow Tanks This is a super soft and lush Soviet Exodus rug. The bright mustard yellow color of the tanks and accenting on the rifles and trucks contrasts with the rusty reds and blues. There is some illegible text on the bottom, reading "MADE IN" before it becomes difficult to read. |
 | ID#:1024, Light Blue Shiny Wool Soviet Exodus War Rug Front and back are not same color, looks like a washing problem. Very minor bleeding around reds. Excellent rug |
 | ID#:1023, Soviet Exodus War Rug with Blue and Green AK New and Perfect. Good condition war rug. Full pile. Very nice colors |
 | ID#:1022, Soviet Exodus War Rug This war rug is new, but has a condition issue worth consideration. The weft threads were pulled too tight in the top third, which has caused some lines of puckering when viewed from the back. When the pile is cut, the puckers cause the pile to end up very short, to the foundation in places. It is a combination of a weaving error and a cutting error. Otherwise the rug is new, and woven of good materials. |
 | ID#:771, Kharghai Soviet Exodus A Navy blue sihouette of Afghanistan sits off-center in the field with depictions of tanks, helecopters, grenades, and mines within and the words "AFGHANISTAN KABUL" in brown writing. A slightly off-center red chevron holds tanks 'leaving' Afghanistan, symbolizing the Soviet retreat from the country. The rest of the negative space is comprised of the same variety of weaponry and military vehicles. A large blue-and-red rifle sits in the bottom right corner of the rug. The border is comprised of blue triangular shapes with pitchfork-like structures erupting from the top on a red background. |
 | ID#:760, Soviet Exodus Rug Good drawing Soviet Exodus rug. Both Afghanistan and the road on which the tanks are driving are a bright, rich red which is contrasted with by smaller blue/green accents in the planes and other tanks. The colors in this rug are bright and rich. |
 | ID#:701, Soviet Exodus rug saying Made in Afghanistan, so woven after 2002 Brand new. Special Forces collection. |
 | ID#:456, Beautiful Soviet Exodus Yellow Map Afghan War Rug This war rug was made in the year 2000 and is in perfect condition. This war rug commemorates the Soviet exodus. The bright red used in the map of Afghanistan provides a sharp contrast to the military colors also used throughout this rug. This is an excellent example of tribal folk art. This traditional war rug pattern was most likely used as a practice tool by the inexperienced artist. Often, it is boring for a weaver to have large areas of only one color, so they fill in the space with Xes, thereby breaking up the monotony. The artist clearly practiced writing text in English and making curves and points by including the oh-so-rare-in-a-war-rug heart symbol. Typically, poppies are used by traditional artists in Afghanistan, and this weaver used many, probably to refine her technique in weaving them. The helicopters are childishly stylized, although the attempt at three point perspective in the tanks clearly shows that this weaver had a very good mentor. As far as folk art, there are few examples available as cherished as this war rug. |
 | ID#:452, Four Helicopter on Top Row Soviet Exodus Yellow Map War Rug This new war rug is in perfect condition. This rug, though having the date of 1989, was made in 2002 and commemorates the year of the Soviet exodus. The writing is a beautiful addition to this war rug. The artist proudly recalls the feeling of the times and has written that the forces of USSR is coming out from Afghanistan. Also, she displays her wonderful understanding of the English language by naming various objects such as the Afghanistan map, tanks and rocket, and calls hand grenades hand bombs. For the artists homeland, she includes the blessing of long life among the depicted explosions within Afghanistan. |
 | ID#:429, Green Soviet Exodus Brand new |
 | ID#:426, Cerulean Blue Map Soviet Exodus Yellow Map War Rug This new war rug, woven in 2002, is in excellent condition with some minor bleeding that is typical in all tribal war rugs. It is quite rare that this shade of blue is ever used in this type of rug commemorating the 1989 Soviet exodus. This blue provides a striking background to the imagery of tanks, planes, helicopters, and explosions. The two different grenades right next to each other is a very nice touch and it, unfortunately, speaks of a life where it is not uncommon that a woman can accurately draw different types of hand grenades. |
 | ID#:425, Soviet Exodus Yellow Map War Rug This new war rug, woven in 2002, is in perfect condition. The text in Farsi reads that The Army of the Soviets are Leaving Afghanistan, commemorating the 1989 Soviet exodus. The use of many different colors like the pale blue and grey along side the militaristic shades of green and brown is refreshing. The border is a traditional Afghan border of poppies. The addition of the tanks being bombed as they return home is a nice editorial by the artist. |
 | ID#:424, Green Soviet Exodus Like new condition. Unusual green wool foundation. Farsi script is notable throughout. Very busy rug. |
 | ID#:395, Buried Land Mines War Rug A blue and red landscape pictorial rug depicting a townscape of rivers, buildings, trees, and land mines. The motif as a whole appears twice on the rug– a blue river marks the bottom of the motif, followed by a layer of buried landmines, a row of blue trees and shrubs, and finally five pointed geometric buildings on a red field. The main border is a red, blue, and maroon pattern of alternating pound symbols, triangles, and diagonal shapes on an off-white field. A black and white alternating guard stripe on a maroon field falls between the main composition and the main border. Text is found in multiple places on the rug. The top of each of the main motifs reads "NIAZ YAZD" above the row of buildings. "NIKZ D YAZD" appears towards the bottom of each motif. Possibly related to this rug #471 |
 | ID#:287, Transitional Soviet Afghan War / War on Terrorism Rug The condition of this new Afghan war rug is perfect. It is densely knotted with good quality wool. This is the original pattern of the yellow war rug. It features the Soviet / Afghan war story. It depicts the Soviet forces retreating from whence they came via Uzbekistan. This kind of rug features Soviet APCs and Helicopters under attack and on fire. This particular rug is a transitional piece, showing the Soviet withdrawal, but also the American flag joined with an Afghan flag. The US / Afghan flags are seen in the later ""Rout of terrorism"" rug, so this rug is a very recent example of the Soviet story map rug. Before the fall of the Taliban these rugs were made in western Pakistan, but they are now woven in northern Afghanistan, the traditional home of these Turkman weavers. The main production centers are Mazar I'Sharif and Sherberghan. |
 | ID#:286, All Yellow Soviet Story Afghan War Rug The condition of this new Afghan war rug is excellent. It is densely woven with strong wool. This rug is an example of the Soviet story sub style of the small Afghan map war rugs. This rug is a transitional piece between the Soviet story rugs and the ""War on Terrorism"" rugs. This is clear from the oxymoronic text saying ""USSR 2002"". Funny. The Farsi text on the top of this rug says 'The army of the Soviets is leaving Afghanistan"". This style of rug has been fairly plentiful for the last couple of years, and warrug.com searches for unusual and atypical examples of this kind of rug. One of the unusual features of this rug is that the map of Afghanistan is the same color as the field. This gives the rug a more unified composition, and the pattern more of an ""all over"" look. The war motifs in this rug are nicely arranged throughout the field. It is particularly attractive. Until the US eliminated the Taliban regime, this style of rug was woven by refugees in Pakistan. After we took out the Taliban these weavers were able to return to their native homes and produce these rugs around Mazar I'Sharif and Sherberghan. |
 | ID#:283, Very Rare Afghan War Rug Saying -Al Qaeda has Taken Flight - The condition of this new Afghan war rug is excellent. It is densely woven with strong wool. The Farsi text on the top of this rug makes it extremely rare, to the point this is the only one we have seen. The older rugs of this style said in Farsi, ""The army of the Soviets is leaving Afghanistan."" There are a few rugs from 2002 that said, ""The army of the Taliban is leaving Afghanistan."" But this rug appears to say, ""The army of al qaeda is leaving Afghanistan."" This rug is an example of the Soviet story sub style of the small Afghan map war rugs. This rug is a transitional piece between the Soviet story rugs and the ""War on Terrorism"" rugs. This style of rug has been fairly plentiful for the last couple of years, and warrug.com searches for unusual and atypical examples of this kind of rug. The Farsi text on this rug makes it extremely unusual. Until the US eliminated the Taliban regime, this style of rug was woven by refugees in Pakistan. After we drove al qaeda and the Taliban back to the age of the Cave Man, these weavers were able to return to their native homes and produce these rugs around Mazar I'Sharif and Sherberghan. |
 | ID#:214, Afghan Victory over Soviets 2 This pattern is no longer available in quantity like it was a couple of years ago. These rugs celebrate the Afghan victory over the Soviets (with substantial American assistance.) Rug is probably not woven in 1989, but instead celebrates the 1989 victory and the end of the war (and the beginning of the civil war). Good drawing. Nice weapons. |
 | ID#:213, Afghan Victory over Soviets rug 1 This pattern is no longer available in quantity like it was a couple of years ago. These rugs celebrate the Afghan victory over the Soviets (with substantial American assistance.) Rug is probably not woven in 1989, but instead celebrates the 1989 victory and the end of the war (and the beginning of the civil war). This rug is also atypical in its quality. It is unusually finely knotted. |
 | ID#:40, Yellow Map Afghan War Rug Good example of common design. These rugs are made of better wool and are much more finely knotted than the red Kalashnikov rugs. |