The Kabul River (; ), the classical Cophen , is a river that emerges in the

Sanglakh Range The Sanglakh Range is an offshoot of the Hindu Kush, just west of Kabul in Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Its main peak is the Unai; both the Helmand and Kabul rivers rise in the Sanglakh Range, separated by the Unai Pass The Unai Pass or ...

of 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 ...

mountains in the northeastern part of

Maidan Wardak Province Wardak is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in central Afghanistan. Its capital is the closest provincial city to Kabul. Wardak Have 8 District. Wardak or Wardag (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in ...

, Afghanistan. It is separated from the watershed of the

Helmand River The Helmand river (Pashto/Dari: ; Ancient Greek: Ἐτύμανδρος, ''Etýmandros''; Latin: '), also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand, is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It o ...

by the

Unai Pass The Unai Pass or Onai Pass () is a mountain pass on the western side of the Paghman Mountains in Jalrez District, Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. It is of strategical importance due to its geographical location to the southwest of Kabul ...

. The Kabul River empties into the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

near

Attock Attock ( Punjabi, ), formerly known as Campbellpur (Punjabi, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 36th largest city in the Punjab and 61st largest c ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province of Pakistan.

Course

The Kabul River, which measures long, rises in the Sanglākh Range at Sar Čašma, located at an elevation of 14,000 feet above sea level in the Kōh-e Bābā mountains northwest of

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. It passes through the cities of

and

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Help:IPA/Persian, ͡ʒä.lɑː.lɑː.bɑːd̪ is the list of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 200,331, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part ...

in Afghanistan. Its large

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

covers the eastern provinces of

Nangarhār Nangarhār (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Nangrahar or Ningrahar, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country and bordering Logar, Kabul, Laghman and Kunar provinces as well as having an internatio ...

, Kunar, Laghmān, Lōgar,

, Kāpisā, Parwān, Panjshēr, and Bāmyān before it flows into

in Pakistan some north of the

Durand Line The Durand Line (; ; ), also known as the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, is a international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to the border with China. The D ...

border crossing at

Torkham Torkham (; ) is a Pakistani town in Khyber District (until 2018 the Khyber Agency of the now defunct FATA), that is the location of the Torkham Border Crossing with Afghanistan just to the west of the historic Khyber Pass. Torkham lies at the end ...

. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the river passes through the cities of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

Charsadda Chārsadda (; ; ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.Nowshera. The major

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

of the Kabul River are the Logar, Panjshir, Alingar, Surkhab, Kunar, Bara, and

Swat A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

rivers.

Hydrology

The Kabul River is little more than a trickle for most of the year, but swells in summer due to melting snows in the Hindu Kush Range. Its largest tributary is the Kunar River, which starts out as the

Mastuj River The Chitral River, also known in Afghanistan as the Kunar River, is a long river in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. It originates from the Chiantar glacier, located at the border of Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral in Pakistan. At Aran ...

, flowing from the Chiantar glacier in Brughil valley in

Chitral Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...

, Pakistan and after flowing south into Afghanistan it is met by the Bashgal river flowing from

Nurestan Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Pashto: ; Katë: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a ...

. The Kunar meets the Kabul near Jalalabad. In spite of the Kunar carrying more water than the Kabul, the river continues as the Kabul River after this confluence, mainly for the political and historical significance of the name.

Dams

The Kabul River is impounded by several dams that were constructed in the 20th century. Three dams are located in the

and

Nangarhar Nangarhār (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Nangrahar or Ningrahar, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country and bordering Logar, Kabul, Laghman and Kunar provinces as well as having an internatio ...

provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...

, including the Surobi dam, a hydroelectric source for Kabul constructed 1957 with assistance by Germany, the Naghlu and the

Darunta Darūnṭa () (or Khayrow Khel), also spelled Daruntah or Derunta, is a village in Jalalabad District of Nangarhar province. It is located next to Jalalabad city on route AO1 in Afghanistan. Numerous remains of stupas from the 1st century BCE- ...

dams which were built by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

scientists in the 1960s. The

Warsak Dam Warsak Dam (; ) is a mass concrete gravity dam located on the Kabul River in District Mohmand, Mechni, approximately 30 km northwest from the city of Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. History Warsak Dam was complete ...

is also in the

Valley of Peshawar The Valley of Peshawar (; ) is a broad area situated in the central part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The valley is in area, and is traversed by the Kabul River. It has a mean elevation of . The valley takes its name from the c ...

in Pakistan, approximately 20 km northwest of the city of

History

Expedition of Alexander the Great into Asia

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

's '' The Campaigns of Alexander'', the River Kabul is referred to as Κωφήν ''Kōphēn'' (Latin spelling ''Cophen'').Arrian, John Rooke;

Modern era

Since the 1990s, the river has experienced substantial droughts in summer. In approximately March 2019, ten of thousands of gallons of untreated sewage from the Makroyan Waste Water Treatment Plant has been dumped into the Kabul River each month, reportedly causing gastrointestinal issues among the 3,000 families that live along the river.

Etymology

In Sanskrit and Avestan

The word ''Kubhā'' which is the ancient name of the river is both a Sanskrit and Avestan word. The word later changed to ''Kābul''.

Al-Biruni

Al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...

, a Persian polymath, also called it "the River of Ghorwand". The Kabul River later gave its name to the region and to the settlement of

Institution Leadership

Kabul River Basin (KRB) is a government authority under the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA). Based on the Water Law it was created. The recent Director General of this major water institution was Jalal Naser Faqiryar, who brought positive changes, contributed a lot to the transparency, basin development, and applicable policies, especially river basin management which had positive impacts and results.

Gallery

File:66-175 Kabul Afghanistan 1966.jpg, The Kabul River in the city of Kabul, 1966 File:Вадим Чуприна-Кабул VADIM CHUPRINA © Kabul 04.jpg, The Kabul River in the city of Kabul, 1982 File:DRY Kabul River - panoramio.jpg, The Kabul River in the city of Kabul in 2009, now dried up File:Kabul City Traffic.jpg, The dried river in the central city of Kabul File:Valley between Jalalabad and Kabul.jpg, Kabul River

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg, Gorge of the Kabul River, parallel to the Kabul-Jalalabad Road File:Kabulriverinjaa1.jpg, Kabul River in Behsood Bridge Area, Jalalabad, 2009 File:Kabulriverinjaa2.jpg, Kabul River in Behsood Bridge Area, Jalalabad, 2009 File:Caves on the Kabul River -b.jpg,

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

caves, which have been carved into a set of cliffs on the north side of the Kabul river File:Dam on Kabul River (5738688176).jpg, A dam on the river File:Kabulriverinjaa.jpg, Kabul River at Behsood Bridge, Jalalabad

References

External links

Kabul River
''

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

''. {{Authority control Rivers of Afghanistan Rivers of Pakistan Tributaries of the Indus River International rivers of Asia Rigvedic rivers Landforms of Kabul Province Landforms of Nangarhar Province Rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rivers of Punjab, Pakistan Jalalabad Kabul Indus basin Rivers in Buddhism