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{{short description|River in Afghanistan and Pakistan}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Kabul River
| name_native =
| name_native_lang =
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| image = Kabul River flood-plain east of Kabul, Afghanistan.jpg
| image_size =
| image_caption = Aerial photo of Kabul River flood-plain east of Kabul, Afghanistan
| map = Kaboul.png
| map_size =
| map_caption = Path of the Kabul River [http://u.osmfr.org/m/380844/]
| pushpin_map = Afghanistan
| pushpin_map_size =
| pushpin_map_caption= Mouth of the Kabul River in Pakistan

| subdivision_type1 = Countries
| subdivision_name1 = [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]]
| subdivision_type2 =
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| subdivision_type3 =
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| subdivision_type4 =
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| subdivision_type5 = Cities
| subdivision_name5 = [[Kabul]], [[Surobi, Kabul|Surobi]], [[Jalalabad]] (Afghanistan);<br/>[[Peshawar]], [[Charsadda]], [[Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Nowshera]] (Pakistan)

| length = {{convert|700|km|mi|abbr=on}}
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| source1 = [[Hindu Kush]] Mountains
| source1_location = [[Maidan Wardak Province|Maidan Wardak]], [[Afghanistan]]
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|34.357|N|68.8392|E}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|2400|m|abbr=on}}
| mouth = [[Indus River]]
| mouth_location = [[Attock]], [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|33|55|0|N|72|13|56|E}}
| mouth_elevation =
| progression =
| river_system =
| basin_size = {{convert|70500|km2|abbr=on}}
| tributaries_left = [[Panjshir River]], [[Alingar River]], [[Kunar River]], [[Swat River]]
| tributaries_right = [[Logar River]], [[Surkhab River]], [[Bara River]]
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}}
The '''Kabul River''' ({{lang-ur|{{nq|دریائے کابل}}}}, {{lang-ps|د کابل سیند}}), the classical '''Cophen''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|oʊ|f|eː|n}}, is a {{convert|700|km|mi|adj=mid|-long}} river that emerges in the [[Sanglakh Range]] of the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains in the northeastern part of [[Maidan Wardak Province]], [[Afghanistan]]. It is separated from the watershed of the [[Helmand River]] by the [[Unai Pass]]. The Kabul River empties into the [[Indus River]] near [[Attock]], [[Pakistan]]. It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] province of Pakistan.

==Course==
The Kabul River, which measures {{convert|700|km|mi|-1|disp=or}} long, passes through the cities of [[Kabul]] and [[Jalalabad]] in Afghanistan. Its large drainage basin covers the eastern provinces of Nangarhār, Kunar, Laḡmān, Lōgar, Kabul, Kāpisā, Parvān, Panjšēr, and Bāmiān before it flows into [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] in Pakistan some {{convert|25|km}} north of the [[Durand Line]] border crossing at [[Torkham border crossing|Torkham]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Wilde|first=A|date=April 19, 2012|title=Kabul River|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kabul-river}}</ref> In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the river passes through the cities of [[Peshawar]], [[Charsadda]], and [[Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Nowshera]]. A majority of the Kabul River’s water originates from the snow and glaciers of [[Chitral District]], out of which it flows into Afghanistan. In its upper reaches it is known as the '''Sarchashma'''. The major [[tributaries]] of the Kabul River are the [[Logar River|Logar]], [[Panjshir River|Panjshir]], [[Alingar River|Alingar]], [[Surkhab River|Surkhab]], [[Kunar River|Kunar]], [[Bara River|Bara]], and [[Swat River|Swat]] rivers.<ref name="AAN">{{cite web|date=16 December 2019|title=One Land, Two Rules (9): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Jalrez district of Wardak province|url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/one-land-two-rules-9-delivering-public-services-in-insurgency-affected-jalrez-district-of-wardak-province/|access-date=30 April 2020|publisher=Afghan Analysts Network}}</ref>

[[File:Kabul River, Old Bridge, Bala Hissar in the Distance WDL11484.png|thumb|One of five bridges that crossed Kabul River during the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]] (1879-1880) era. Soldiers a pictured atop the bridge while people walk along the road in the distance and in the right foreground people sit or squat on the bridge while soldiers ride behind them. [[Bala Hissar, Kabul|Bala Hissar]] (High Fort) is in the background just visible through the heat haze and trees. It was the locus of power in Kabul for many centuries and the site of fierce fighting during the war. It was partly destroyed between October and December 1879 when [[Sir Frederick Roberts]] occupied the city at the head of the [[Kabul Field Force]]]]

==Hydrology==
The Kabul River is little more than a trickle for most of the year, but swells in summer due to melting snows in the Hindu Kush Range. Its largest tributary is the Kunar River, which starts out as the [[Mastuj River]], flowing from the Chiantar glacier in Brughil valley in [[Chitral District|Chitral]], Pakistan and after flowing south into Afghanistan it is met by the Bashgal river flowing from [[Nurestan Province|Nurestan]]. The Kunar meets the Kabul near Jalalabad. In spite of the Kunar carrying more water than the Kabul, the river continues as the Kabul River after this confluence, mainly for the political and historical significance of the name.

===Dams===
The Kabul River is impounded by several dams that were constructed in the 20th century. Three dams are located in the [[Kabul Province|Kabul]] and [[Nangarhar Province|Nangarhar]] [[provinces of Afghanistan]], including the [[Surobi, Kabul|Surobi]] dam, a hydroelectric source for Kabul constructed 1957 with assistance by Germany, the [[Naghlu Dam|Naghlu]] dam, which was later built by Soviet scientists in the 1960s, and the [[Darunta Dam|Darunta]] dam. The [[Warsak Dam]] is also in the [[Valley of Peshawar]] in Pakistan, approximately 20 km northwest of the city of [[Peshawar]].<ref name=":0" />

==History==

===Expedition of Alexander the Great into Asia===
{{main|Cophen campaign}}

In [[Arrian]]'s ''[[Anabasis Alexandri|The Campaigns of Alexander]]'', the River Kabul is referred to as Κωφήν ''Kōphēn'' (Latin spelling ''Cophen'').<ref name=Arrian>Arrian, John Rooke; {{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnwMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA256 |author=Arrian |author-link=Arrian |translator-last=Rooke |translator-first=John |title=Arrian's History of the expedition of Alexander the Great: and conquest of Persia |publisher=J. Davis |date=1813 |chapter=A brief account of all the authors who have touched upon the history of Alexander |edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name=Cawthorne>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxyz0v9T74sC&pg=PA156 |first=Nigel |last=Cawthorne|title=Alexander the Great |publisher=Haus Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-904341-56-X}}</ref><ref name=Heckel>{{cite book |first=Waldemar |last=Heckel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DO6QMPLRiEUC&pg=PA13 |title=The wars of Alexander the Great, 336-323 B.C |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2003 |isbn=0-415-96855-0}}</ref><ref name=Romm>{{cite book |author=Arrian |author-link=Arrian|editor-last=Romm|editor-first=James S. |translator-first=Pamela |translator-last=Mensch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mi9rOaE3x6gC&q=Chronology++Alexander+the+Great&pg=PR22 |title=Alexander the Great: selections from Arrian, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius |publisher=Hackett Publishing |date=2005 |isbn=0-87220-727-7}}</ref>

===Modern era===
Since the 1990s, the river has experienced substantial droughts in summer.<ref name=":0" /> In approximately March 2019, ten of thousands of gallons of untreated sewage from the Makroyan Waste Water Treatment Plant has been dumped into the Kabul River each month, reportedly causing gastrointestinal issues among the 3,000 families that live along the river.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sewage from US Embassy, NATO headquarters dumped into Kabul River due to aging infrastructure |date=September 12, 2020 |newspaper=[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]] |url=https://www.stripes.com/news/sewage-from-us-embassy-nato-headquarters-dumped-into-kabul-river-due-to-aging-infrastructure-1.644860 |first1=J.P. |last1=Lawrence |first2=Zubair |last2=Babakarkhail |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200915011403/https://www.stripes.com/news/sewage-from-us-embassy-nato-headquarters-dumped-into-kabul-river-due-to-aging-infrastructure-1.644860 |archive-date=September 15, 2020 |access-date=September 15, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
===In Sanskrit and Avestan===
The word ''Kubhā'' which is the ancient name of the river is both a Sanskrit and Avestan word. The word later changed to ''Kābul''.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The History and Culture of the Indian People]] : The Vedic age| author =Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Achut Dattatrya Pusalker, A. K. Majumdar, Dilip Kumar Ghose, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Vishvanath Govind Dighe Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|year=1962|page =247|quote=''The Kubha is the modern Kabul river which flows into the [[Indus]] a little above [[Attock]] and receives at [[Prang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Prang]] the joint flow of its tributaries the [[Swat River|Swat]] (Swastu) and Gauri}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India|last=Muir|first=John|page=352|quote='In the older parts of the [[Rigved]] the Indian people appear to be settled on the north western border of India, in the [[Punjab region|Punjab]] and even beyond the Punjab on the borders of the Kubha river the Kowpher in [[Kabul]]. The gradual diffusion of these people from this point towards the east, beyond the [[Saraswati]] and [[Hindustan]] as far as the Ganges, can be traced almost step by step in the later portions of the Vedic writings}}</ref>

===Al-Biruni===
[[Al-Biruni]] also called it "the River of Ghorwand".<ref name=EI>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bosworth |first=C.E. | author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth | title = Kabul| encyclopedia = [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]| edition = CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0| publisher = Koninklijke Brill NV| location = Leiden, The Netherlands| year = 1999}}</ref>

The Kabul River later gave its name to the region and to the settlement of [[Kabul]].<ref name=EI/>

===Institution Leadership===
Kabul River Basin (KRB) is a government authority under the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA). Based on the Water Law it was created. The recent Director General of this major water institution was Jalal Naser Faqiryar, who brought positive changes, contributed a lot to the transparency, basin development, and applicable policies, especially river basin management which had positive impacts and results.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:66-175 Kabul Afghanistan 1966.jpg|The Kabul River in the city of Kabul, 1966
File:Вадим Чуприна-Кабул VADIM CHUPRINA © Kabul 04.jpg|The Kabul River in the city of Kabul, 1982
File:DRY Kabul River - panoramio.jpg|The Kabul River in the city of Kabul in 2009, now dried up
File:Kabul City Traffic.jpg|The dried river in the central city of Kabul
File:Valley between Jalalabad and Kabul.jpg|Kabul River [[valley]]
File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg|Gorge of the Kabul River, parallel to the [[Kabul-Jalalabad Road]]
File:Kabulriverinjaa1.jpg|Kabul River in Behsood Bridge Area, Jalalabad, 2009
File:Kabulriverinjaa2.jpg|Kabul River in Behsood Bridge Area, Jalalabad, 2009
File:Caves on the Kabul River -b.jpg|[[Buddhism|Buddhist]] caves, which have been carved into a set of cliffs on the north side of the Kabul river
File:Dam on Kabul River (5738688176).jpg|A dam on the river
File:Kabulriverinjaa.jpg|Kabul River at Behsood Bridge , Jalalabad
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of rivers of Afghanistan]]
* [[List of rivers of Pakistan]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kabul-river Kabul River]. ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]''.
{{Commons category|position=left}}

{{coord|33|55|0|N|72|13|56|E|type:river_region:PK_dim:7500|display=title}}

{{Waters of Pakistan}}
{{Afghanistan topics}}

{{Authority control}}

Kabul River - Revision history

Bharatwiki Socrates at 06:02, 20 November 2023