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 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 ...

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-Baltist ...

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 Lowe ...

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 borde ...

. 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 Province ...

. It is formed by the confluence of the

Wakhjir River 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 ...

and the Bozai River near Kashch Goz and

Bozai Gumbaz Bozai Gumbaz or Baza'i Gonbad ( fa, بزای گمبز, translation=domes of the elders) is the site of a domed tomb (or gonbad) and nearby settlement of Kyrgyz and Wakhi herders in the Wakhan District of Afghanistan. It lies in the Little Pamir ...

, some 40 km west of the Wakhjir Pass.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 p ...

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 grows in the area. At

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

See alsso

* List of rivers in Afghanistan

References

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