Wakhan River ( prs, اب واخان; ps, واخان سیند); known locally as ''Ab-i-Wakhan'' or ''Abe Vâxân'', ''Вахондарё'' and ''Vaxondaryo'') is the name of the Sarhadd branch of the

Panj River The Panj (russian: Пяндж; fa, رودخانه پنج) (; tg, Панҷ, پنج), traditionally known as the Ochus River and also known as ''Pyandzh'' (derived from its Russian name "Пяндж"), is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river ...

along its upper length in the

Wakhan District Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan. The district has a border with neighboring Tajikistan in the north, Xinjiang in China to the east, and Pakistan to the south (specifically Gilgit-Baltistan a ...

Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower ...

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 ...

. The river arises in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

. It is formed by the confluence of the Wakhjir River and the Bozai River near Kashch Goz and Bozai Gumbaz, some 40 km west of the

Wakhjir Pass The Wakhjir Pass,Ludwig W. Adamec. Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan Vol. 1. Badakhshan Province and northeastern Afghanistan. Graz : Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972.p. 185. also spelled Vakhjir Pass, is a mountain pass in the ...

.Mock and O'Neill (2004): Expedition Report
/ref> Shortly thereafter, the Little Pamir comes to an end, and the conjoined river contracts into a narrow, deep, rapid river, delimited by cliffs and steep hills. From here the banks have grown birch and juniper trees. 40 km west at

Sarhad-e Broghil Sarhadd or Sarhad, also known as Sarhad-e Broghil or Sarhad-e Wakhan, is a village in the Wakhan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. Sarhadd lies at an altitude of on the Wakhan River, at a point where the river broadens into a wide ...

the river flows in a dramatic basin 3 km wide.Aga Khan Development Network (2010): ''Wakhan and the Afghan Pamir''
p.3 and map at p.5 Little if any vegetation but

dwarf willow ''Salix herbacea'', the dwarf willow, least willow or snowbed willow, is a species of tiny creeping willow (family Salicaceae) adapted to survive in harsh arctic and subarctic environments. Distributed widely in alpine and arctic environments ar ...

grows in the area. At Sarhadd the river contracts into a wider valley, which is more populated. The river emerges near the village of Qila-e Panj, where it is joined by the

Pamir River The Pamir River is a shared river located in the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan and in the Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan. It is a tributary of the Panj River, and forms the northern boundary of Afghanistan's Wakhan District. The river has ...

. From that point the river is always locally spoken of as the

See alsso

List of rivers in Afghanistan This is a list of rivers wholly or partly in Afghanistan, arranged geographically by river basin. Flowing into the Arabian Sea *'' Indus River (Pakistan)'' **Gomal River *** Kundar River ***Zhob River **Kurram River ** Kabul River ***Bar ...

References

Rivers of Afghanistan Wakhan Landforms of Badakhshan Province {{Badakhshan-geo-stub