Four Afghan brothers have dug out their family’s carpet loom from storage in the hope of making a living as the country’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
The Haidari brothers now spend their days weaving the intricate rugs for which Afghanistan is famous, sitting side by side on a squat bench, as generations of their family have done before them.
They put in long hours every day, putting on a brave face despite the fact that there is no guarantee they will be able to sell their carpets.
Ghulam Sakhi, the family patriarch, said, “We have no other option” to keep the family alive.
The Haidari brothers had managed to avoid the backbreaking labor of carpet manufacture until August 15, when the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, and were running a profitable company supplying flowers for weddings.
The fundamentalist movement’s austere view of Islam, on the other hand, effectively put an end to the expensive betrothals that Afghans adored, and the family business disintegrated.
They turned to their family’s rug-making business as a creative response to adversity.
“Naturally, wedding halls didn’t do well once the Taliban took power. That is why we have resumed carpeting “Rauf, the eldest of the brothers who all live and work in Kabul, is 28 years old.
He told AFP, “It’s a very old ritual that our forefathers have passed down to us.”
They now take silk strands from dangling spindles and loop them into the rug’s warp and weft with precise, rhythmic energy.
They expect the 12-metre (39-foot) carpet to sell for up to $6,000 when it is finished (5,300 euros).
