The Pech River () is located in eastern

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 ...

Course

The Pech River system is fed from

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s and

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

from 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 ...

range to its north. The river rises in central Nuristan Province and flows south and southeasterly through the center of Kunar Province, joining the

Kunar 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 A ...

(Asmar River, ''Loy Seend'') at the provincial capital of Asadabad. The Kunar is a tributary of the Kabul River, part of 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 ...

basin. The river has numerous tributaries forming valleys on both sides. These include the Chapa Dara, Waygal, Korangal Valley (site of the film '' Restrepo''), Watapur, and Sharyak valleys.

Culture

In the Pech Valley,

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and the Askunu languages are spoken. The Safi tribe of

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

is the majority population in the Pech Valley. The river's largest settlement is Nangalam, at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Waygal River with the Pech River.

Military history

There were a series of U.S. military bases along the Pech River Valley in Kunar Province, including COP Honaker-Miracle, COP Able Main, COP Michigan, and the largest − FOB Blessing. Most were closed after 2011. In 2011 former FOB Blessing was abandoned by the Afghan National Army (ANA), and the 25th Infantry Division returned to reestablish the area of influence. The new name was COP Nangalam, with a majority of control in the hands of the ANA. In late 2012 with the ANA in control of and the establishment of ANA Fire bases in and along the area that COP Michigan was the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

then pulled the American forces from the valley again, ceding it to the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

due to the questionable ability and loyalty of the ANA. The 2012 book ''Siren's Song: The Allure of War'', by Antonio Salinas, depicts the experience of an American platoon operating in the Pech River Valley. The 2016 book ''Hammerhead Six: How Green Berets Waged an Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in Afghanistan's Deadly Pech Valley'', by Ronald Fry with Tad Tuleja, depicts the experience of American

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

deployed there. The 2021 book ''The Hardest Place'' by Wesley Morgan details the failed US counterinsurgency campaign in northeastern Afghanistan, including the Pech valley.

References

External links

Rivers of Afghanistan Kabul River Landforms of Kunar Province Landforms of Nuristan Province Rivers of Pakistan {{Afghanistan-river-stub simple:Peche River

Course

Culture

Military history

See also

References

External links