Geography of Afghanistan - Rivers and Lakes

Rivers and Lakes

Afghanistan usually does not face much water shortage because it receives snow during winter and once that melts the water runs into numerous rivers, lakes, and streams, but most of its national water flows into neighboring countries. It loses about two-thirds of its water to neighboring Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turmenistan. The country needs several billion dollars to rehabilitate its irrigation systems so that the water is properly used. The Afghan government is requesting a $12 billion investment from the international community to construct a number of dams for the production of electricity and to help the irrigation of the country.

The nation's drainage system is essentially landlocked. Most of the rivers and streams end in shallow desert lakes or oases inside or outside the country's boundaries. Nearly half of the state's total area is drained by watercourses south of the Hindu Kush–Safid ridge line, and half of this area is drained by the Helmand and its tributaries alone. The Amu Darya on the northern border, the country's other major river, has the next largest drainage area.

The 2,661 km (1,653 mi) long Amu Darya originates in the glaciers of the Pamir Mountains in the northeast. Some 965 km of its upper course constitutes Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Flowing in rapid torrents in its upper course, the Amu Darya becomes calmer below the mouth of the Kokcha, 96 km (60 mi) west of Fayzabad. The Kunduz River is another major tributary. During its flood period the upper course of the Amu Darya, swollen by snow and melting ice, carries along much gravel and large boulders.

The Helmand River is the principal river in the southwest, bisecting the entire region. Starting some 80 km (50 mi) west of Kabul in the Baba mountain range, the Helmand is approximately 1,400 km (870 mi) long, making it the longest river situated entirely within Afghanistan. With its many tributaries, the most important of which is the Arghandab River, it drains more than 298 km2 (115 sq mi).

The Kabul River, 515 km (320 mi) long, is a vital source of water in the Baba Mountains and for Kabul itself, which it flows through. The Kabul and its tributaries are among the few in Afghanistan that eventually reach the sea, as it flows east into the Indus River in Pakistan.

In the west the sandy deserts along most of the Iranian frontier have no watercourses. However, in the northwest, the Hari and Morghab Rivers flow into Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert.