The Pech River ( ps, پېچ سيند) is located in eastern

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 ...

Course

The Pech River system is fed from

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s and

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

from 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 Province ...

range to its north. The river rises in central Nuristan Province and flows south and southeasterly through the center of

Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- Ha ...

, joining the

Kunar River The Kūnaṛ River ( ps, د کونړ سيند), also known in its upper reaches as the Mastuj ( ps, مستوج سين), Chitral ( khw, کونڑ سين; ur, دریائے کونڑ), or Kama River ( khw, کامې سين), is about long, located ...

(Asmar River, ''Loy Seend'') at the provincial capital of Asadabad. The Kunar River is a tributary of the Kabul River, part of the Indus River basin. The river has numerous tributaries forming valleys on both sides. These include the Chapa Dara, Waygal, Korangal Valley (site of the film '' Restrepo''), Watapur, and Sharyak valleys.

Culture

In the Pech Valley,

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

as well as

Askunu language ''Âṣkuňu'' (') is a language of Afghanistan spoken by the Ashkun people – also known as the Âṣkun, Ashkun, Askina, Saňu, Sainu, Yeshkun, Wamas, or Grâmsaňâ – from the region of the central Pech Valley around Wâmâ and in some ea ...

is spoken. The Safi tribe of

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

are the majority population in the Pech Valley. The river's largest settlement is Nangalam, at the confluence of the Waygal River with the Pech River.

Military history

There were a series of U.S. military bases along the Pech River Valley in Kunar Province, including COP Honaker-Miracle, COP Able Main, COP Michigan, and the largest − FOB Blessing. Most were closed after 2011. In 2011 former FOB Blessing was abandoned by the Afghan National Army (ANA), and the 25th Infantry Division returned to reestablish the area of influence. The new name was COP Nangalam, with a majority of control in the hands of the ANA. In late 2012 with the ANA in control of and the establishment of ANA Fire bases in and along the area that COP Michigan was the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

then pulled the American forces from the valley again, ceding it to the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

due to the questionable ability and loyalty of the (ANA). The 2012 book "Siren's Song: The Allure of War", by Antonio Salinas, depicts the experience of an American Platoon operating in the Pech River Valley. The 2016 book "Hammerhead Six: How Green Berets Waged an Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in Afghanistan's Deadly Pech Valley", By Ronald Fry with Tad Tuleja, depicts one Special Forces team and how they use mutual cultural respect opposed to force to defeat the Taliban and build alliances between the US and local Afghans.

References

External links

Rivers of Afghanistan Kabul River Landforms of Kunar Province Landforms of Nuristan Province Rivers of Pakistan {{Afghanistan-river-stub simple:Peche River

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Culture

Military history

See also

References

External links