The Pamir River is a shared river located in the

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 ...

and in the Gorno-Badakhshan in

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. It is a tributary 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 ...

, and forms the northern boundary of Afghanistan's

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-Baltista ...

. The river has its sources in the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

in the far eastern part of Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It flows between the Alichur mountain range in the north and the

in the south. It starts from the

Lake Zorkul Zorkul ( ps, زارکول; tg, Зоркӯл, Zārkul) is a lake in the Pamir Mountains that runs along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Geography Lake Zorkul extends east to west for about 25 km. The Afghanistan–Tajikis ...

, at a height of 4130 meters, and then flows towards the west, and later southwest. Near the town of

Langar Langar may refer to: Community eating *Langar (Sikhism) * Langar (Sufism) Places Afghanistan *Langar, Badakhshan, Afghanistan * Langar, Bamyan, Afghanistan * Langar, Faryab, Afghanistan * Langar, Herat, Afghanistan * Langar, Wardak, Afghanis ...

, at 2799 m, it joins the

Wakhan River 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 along its upper length in the Wak ...

and forms the

. The Pamir forms the boundary between Afghanistan and Tajikistan along its entire length. Northwest of Langar is the high

Karl Marx Peak Karl Marx Peak (russian: Пик Карла Маркса; tg, Қуллаи Карл Маркс) rises to in the Shakhdara Range in Pamir Mountains, in the south-west of Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (eastern part of Ishkoshim ...

and

Friedrich Engels Peak Friedrich may refer to: Names * Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' * Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other * Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...

(). A road runs along the river on the Tajik side to

Khargush Kharah Gush ( fa, خره گوش, also Romanized as Kharah Gūsh; also known as Kharāgūsh and Khargūsh) is a village in Sumay-ye Jonubi Rural District, Sumay-ye Beradust District, Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran Iran, ...

where it turns north to join the

Pamir Highway The M41, known informally and more commonly as the Pamir Highway (russian: Памирский тракт, translit=Pamirsky Trakt ), is a road traversing the Pamir Mountains through Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with a ...

. A road of lower quality continues east past Zorkul, almost to the Chinese border. John Wood was the first known European to try to find the source of the Oxus, or Pamir River. He made a pioneering journey in 1839 and reached

.Keay, J. (1983) ''When Men and Mountains Meet'' Chapter 9

References

External links

Map of the Gorno-Badakhshan region of TajikistanAga Khan Development Network: Wakhan and the Afghan Pamir
Map at p. 5{{coord, 37, 01, N, 72, 39, E, display=title, region:AF_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of Afghanistan Rivers of Tajikistan Border rivers International rivers of Asia Afghanistan–Tajikistan border Wakhan Landforms of Badakhshan Province

See also

References

External links