In addition to its mountains, the country possesses many rivers,
river basins, lakes and desert areas. The four major river systems
are the Amu Darya, the Oxus of antiquity, (boundary with Central
Asia, 1,100 kilometers in Afghanistan); the Hilmand (1,300 kilometers);
the Harirud (650 kilometers in Afghanistan); and the Kabul (460
kilometers). Only the Kabul River, joining the Indus system in
Pakistan, leads to the sea. Many rivers and streams simply empty
into arid portions of the country, spending themselves through
evaporation without replenishing the four major systems; others
flow only seasonally.
Three major dams harness these rivers for land reclamation and
hydroelectric purposes: the Arghandab Dam above Kandahar, completed
in 1952, is 145-feet-high and 1,740-feet-long and has a storage
capacity of 388,000 acre-feet of water; the Kajakai Dam on the
Hilmand River, completed in 1953, is 300-feet-high and 887-feet-long,
with a storage capacity of 1,495,000 acre-feet of water; the Naglu
Dam on the Kabul River west of Jalalabad, completed in the 1960s,
is 361-feet-high and 919-feet-long, stores 304,000 acre-feet of
water. These large dams were not destroyed by war, but because
of lack of maintenance, looted cables and major silting in the
reservoirs, none are functioning to full capacity.
Country
name Afghanistan conventional long form Islamic State of
Afghanistan conventional short form Afghanistan local long
form Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan local short form Afghanestan former Republic of Afghanistan
Area
- total: 647,500 sq km land: 647,500 sq km water: 0 sq km
Terrain
- mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest
Climate
- arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers
Geography
- landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide
the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in
the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor)
Waterways
- 1,200 km note: chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT (2001)
Natural hazards - damaging earthquakes
occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
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