The Balkh River (; ) or Balkhab, also known in its upper reaches as the Band-e Amir River, is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in northern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The river rises in the Band-e Amir lakes in

Bamyan Province Bamyan, also spelled Bamiyan, Bāmīān or Bāmyān (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan with the city of Bamyan as its center, located in central parts of Afghanistan. The terrain in Bamyan is mountainous or semi-mountainous ...

in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

. The river flows west, then north, and terminates in irrigation canals in the area of the cities of

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

and

Mazar-e Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the List of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh prov ...

or in the desert. In times of exceptional flood the river drains into the lowlands of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. In ancient times the river terminated in a delta at the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

, but has not reached that river since irrigation canals were developed centuries ago. p.5

References

Landforms of Balkh Province Rivers of Afghanistan {{Balkh-geo-stub