The Khulm River (''Darya-i Khulm''; alternate spelling: Kholm; alternate name: Tashqurghan River) is a river of Northern-Central

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In its lower course, it passes through Khulm and Haybak, today in

Balkh Province Balkh (Dari: , ''Balx'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The c ...

. The Khulm is a tributary to the

Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

basin. Its source is located to the South of the city of Khulm. Further upstream, it passes through the city of Samangan and

Samangan Province Samangan (Dari: ; Pashto: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located north of the Hindu Kush mountains in the central part of the country. The province covers and is surrounded by Sar-e Pol Province in the west, Balkh in the ...

. The Khulm River forms the western border of Kunduz Province.

Geography

The mountains are characterized as rocky

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

ity as they extend from the

Koh-i-Baba The Baba Mountain range ( ps, بابا غر Bâbâ Ǧar; fa, کوه بابا Kōh-i Bābā; or Kūh-e Bābā; ''Kōh'' or ''Kūh'' meaning ′mountain′, ''Bābā'' meaning ′father′) is the western extension of the Hindu Kush, and the ori ...

to Khulm River. On occasion, the landscape turns into trenched valleys engulfed with vegetation. The river rocks are composed of sandstone and limestone. The Khulm River is one of the tributaries of the

Amu Darya River The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, a major river in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. It is known as a “blind river” or “natural river” as it dries up due to local use within its basin boundary and does not reach the Amu Darya, except during exceptional high flow years. The Khulm River originates in the Kara-Kotal pass and flows through gorges and then emerges into a wide valley near the Tashkurgan town. The river raising at an elevation of 3,600 m has a total length of about 230 km. It drains a catchment area of 8,400 km² with the annual runoff estimates varying from 58.2 to 67 million m³ by different assessors. The road between Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif follows the course of the river. At the junction of the

Bamian Bamyan or Bamyan Valley (); ( prs, بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan or Bamian is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 70,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an alti ...

and

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...

routes, the Khulm River emerges from the mountains by the town of Kholm. The Khulm is used for irrigation entirely before it can reach the Oxus. In 1896, Keane wrote of the countryside's desert encroachment, causing the Khulm River as it passes from the Kara-koh hills to no longer reach the Oxus.

Agriculture

The banks of the Khulm River are rich agricultural areas with rolling green hills at the side of the valleys it passes through. Many farmers in this region of Afghanistan are dependent upon the river for agriculture, particularly fruits. The Khulm is said to produce the world's finest Satar Bayee, Khairuddin Bayee and Abdul Wahidi almonds, pistachio nuts and Afghanistan's finest

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...

Flood control

Near Khulm, there are extensive orchards on the banks of the river. IDEA-NEW has been responsible for implementing a new program to prevent the orchards from flooding in Khulm District, protecting some 500 hectares of orchards from floods. The first phase was completed in winter 2009 with the erection of a 975 metre long protection wall and in 2010 550 metre long gabion protection walls were built on both sides of the Khulm River benefiting 500 families. The project has created some 6,900 days of employment for local workers combined and generating an income of US$99,362 for the labourers who were trained in gabion weaving to be implemented along the river banks. Previously the locals living along the river would attempt to mitigate the river against flooding with sandbanks which failed poorly.

References

{{Coord, 36.766007, N, 67.702446, E, region:RU_type:mountain, display=title Rivers of Afghanistan Landforms of Balkh Province Landforms of Samangan Province