Kabul River


The Kabul River, the classical Cophen, is a long river that emerges in Maidan Wardak Province in the Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan, and 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 passes through the cities of Kabul, Surobi, and Jalalabad in Afghanistan before flowing 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. In its upper reaches it is known as the Sarchashma.
The major tributaries of the Kabul River are the Logar, Panjshir, Alingar, Surkhab, Kunar, Bara, and Swat rivers.
era. Soldiers a pictured atop the bridge while people walk along the road in the distance and in the right foreground people sit or squat on the bridge while soldiers ride behind them. Bala Hissar is in the background just visible through the heat haze and trees. It was the locus of power in Kabul for many centuries and the site of fierce fighting during the war. It was partly destroyed in October–December 1879 when Sir Frederick Roberts occupied the city at the head of the Kabul Field Force

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 glacie in Brughil valley in Chitral, 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. The Naghlu, Surobi, and Darunta dams are located in the Kabul and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. The Warsak Dam is 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.

Etymology

In Avesta and Sanskrit

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

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

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