The Pamir River is a
shared river located in the
Badakhshan Province of
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 ...
and in the
Gorno-Badakhshan
Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area but only two percent of its popul ...
in
Tajikistan
Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
. It is a tributary of the
Panj River, and forms the northern boundary of Afghanistan's
Wakhan District.
The river has its sources in the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...
in the far eastern part of Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It flows between the Alichur mountain range in the north and the
Wakhan District in the south. It starts from the
Lake Zorkul, at a height of 4,130 meters, and then flows west, and later southwest. Near the town of
Langar, at 2,799 m, its confluences with the
Wakhan River forms the
Panj River. The Pamir forms the boundary between Afghanistan and Tajikistan along its entire length. Northwest of Langar is the high
Karl Marx Peak and
Friedrich Engels Peak (). A road runs along the river on the Tajik side to
Khargush where it turns north to join the
Pamir Highway. A road of lower quality continues east past Zorkul, almost to the Chinese border.
Scottish explorer
John Wood was the first known European to try to find the source of the Oxus, or Pamir River. He made a pioneering journey in 1839 and reached
Lake Zorkul.
[Keay, J. (1983) ''When Men and Mountains Meet'' Chapter 9]
See also
*
List of rivers in Afghanistan
References
External links
Map of the Gorno-Badakhshan region of TajikistanAga Khan Development Network: Wakhan and the Afghan Pamir
Map at p. 5{{coord, 37, 01, N, 72, 39, E, display=title, region:AF_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki
Rivers of Afghanistan
Rivers of Tajikistan
Border rivers
International rivers of Asia
Afghanistan–Tajikistan border
Wakhan
Landforms of Badakhshan Province