The Kabul River (; ;), anciently known as the Cophen, is a river that emerges in the Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern part of Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. It is separated from the watershed of the Helmand River by the Unai Pass. The Kabul River empties into the Indus River near Attock, Pakistan. It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Course
The Kabul River, which measures long, rises in the
Sanglakh Range at
Sarchashma, located at an elevation of 14,000 feet above sea level in the
Koh-i-Baba mountains northwest of
Kabul.
It passes through the cities of
Kabul and
Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Its large
drainage basin covers the eastern provinces of Nangarhār,
Kunar Province,
Laghman Province,
Logar Province,
Kabul Province,
Kapisa Province,
Parwan Province, Panjshēr, and
Bamyan Province before it flows into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan some north of the
Durand Line border crossing at Torkham.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the river passes through the cities of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Nowshera. The major tributaries of the Kabul River are the Logar River, Panjshir River, Alingar River, Surkhab River, Kunar River, Bara River, and Swat River 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, flowing from the Chiantar glacier in Brughil valley in
Chitral District, Pakistan and after flowing south into Afghanistan it is met by the Bashgal river flowing from Nurestan. 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
Kabul Province and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan, including the Surobi dam, a hydroelectric source for Kabul constructed 1957 with assistance by Germany, the
Naghlu Dam and the
Darunta Dam dams which were built by
Soviet Union scientists in the 1960s. The
Warsak Dam is also in the Valley of Peshawar in Pakistan, approximately 20 km northwest of the city of
Peshawar.
History
Expedition of Alexander the Great into Asia
In
Arrian'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, 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 Kabul.[
]
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==
]]
caves, which have been carved into a set of cliffs on the north side of the Kabul river]]
See also
-
List of rivers of Afghanistan
-
List of rivers of Pakistan
Notes
External links
