Mystery motif

I keep seeing this motif – in rugs sourced from NW Afghanistan – does anyone have a reference?

A war rug from the Khandahar airport market

Here’s a conventional tourist rug bought recently by an ADF Chinook pilot at the Khandahar air base market. Is that a Canadian flag? Catering to the market… Note the unusual detail of a mine-flailer in the centre of the image, and the (somewhat subversive?) opium poppy border.