Khulm River
{{Infobox river
| name = Khulm River
| image = Khulm River.png
| image_caption =
| source1_location = Kara-Kotal pass
| mouth_location = Amu Darya River
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = Afghanistan
| length_km = 230
| mouth_elevation =
| source1_elevation = {{convert|3600|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| discharge1_avg =
| basin_size_km2 = 8400
}}
The Khulm River (Darya-i Khulm; alternate spelling: Kholm; alternate name: Tashqurghan River){{cite book|last=Noelle|first=Christine |title=State and tribe in nineteenth-century Afghanistan: the reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826-1863)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqkiRvaDThgC&pg=PA61|year=1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=0-7007-0629-1|page=61}} is a river of north-central Afghanistan. In its lower course, it passes through Khulm and Haybak{{Lands of the Eastern Caliphate|page=427}} in Balkh Province. The Khulm is a tributary to the Oxus basin.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Baynes|first=Thomas Spencer|title=Afghanistan|encyclopedia=The Encyclopædia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature|publisher=H.G. Allen|year=1888|volume=1|pages=242–243|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKcMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242}} Its source is south of the city of Khulm and it passes through the city of Samangan and Samangan Province. The Khulm River forms the western border of Kunduz Province.
Geography
The mountains are characterized as rocky aridity as they extend from the Koh-i-Baba to Khulm River. On occasion, the landscape turns into trenched valleys engulfed with vegetation. The river rocks are composed of sandstone and limestone.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain)|title=Turkistan|encyclopedia=The Penny cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|publisher=C. Knight|year=1843|volume=25|pages=413|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUhFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA413}}
The Khulm River is one of the tributaries of the Amu Darya River, a major river in Central Asia. It is known as a “blind river” or “natural river” as it dries up due to local use within its basin boundary and does not reach the Amu Darya, except during exceptional high flow years. The Khulm River originates in the Kara-Kotal pass and flows through gorges and then emerges into a wide valley near the Tashkurgan town. The river raising at an elevation of 3,600 m has a total length of about 230 km. It drains a catchment area of 8,400 km2 with the annual runoff estimates varying from 58.2 to 67 million m3 by different assessors. The road between Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif follows the course of the river.{{Cite web|url=http://waterwiki.net/images/5/5d/WB-workin_papre_2004_Amu_Darya_Water_Resources.pdf|title=Water Resource Development In Northern Afghanistan and Its Implications::Working paper 12|pages=2, 11–12|accessdate=2010-10-29|publisher=World Bank|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231320/http://waterwiki.net/images/5/5d/WB-workin_papre_2004_Amu_Darya_Water_Resources.pdf|url-status=dead}}
At the junction of the Bamian and Badakhshan routes, the Khulm River emerges from the mountains by the town of Kholm.{{cite book|last=Keane|first=Augustus Henry |author-link=Augustus Henry Keane |title=Asia...: Southern and western Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/asia01keangoog|year=1896|publisher=E. Stanford|page=[https://archive.org/details/asia01keangoog/page/n59 33]}}
The entire Khulm water is used up for irrigation before it can reach the Oxus. In 1896, Keane wrote of the countryside's desert encroachment, causing the Khulm River as it passes from the Kara-koh hills to no longer reach the Oxus.Keane, p. 18
Agriculture
File:Samangan Province pistacchio farmers.jpg farmers near the banks of the Khulm]]
The banks of the Khulm River are rich agricultural areas with rolling green hills at the side of the valleys it passes through. Many farmers in this region of Afghanistan are dependent upon the river for agriculture, particularly fruits. The Khulm is said to produce the world's finest Satar Bayee, Khairuddin Bayee and Abdul Wahidi almonds, pistachio nuts and Afghanistan's finest pomegranates.{{cite web|url=http://www.ideanew.af/?lang=en&p=news_stories&nid=172|title= IDEA-NEW protects 500 hectares of orchards from floods in Khulm District of Balkh|publisher=USAID|date=August 15, 2010|accessdate=October 28, 2010}}
Flood control
Near Khulm, there are extensive orchards on the banks of the river.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLeda670m3UC&pg=PA266|last=Wood |first=John|title=A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. With an essay on the geography of the valley of the Oxus by Henry Yule|publisher=Elibron.com|isbn=1-4021-0034-5|year=2001|page=266}} IDEA-NEW has been responsible for implementing a new program to prevent the orchards from flooding in Khulm District, protecting some 500 hectares of orchards from floods. The first phase was completed in winter 2009 with the erection of a 975 metre long protection wall and in 2010 550 metre long gabion protection walls were built on both sides of the Khulm River benefiting 500 families. The project has created some 6,900 days of employment for local workers combined and generating an income of US$99,362 for the labourers who were trained in gabion weaving to be implemented along the river banks. Previously the locals living along the river would attempt to mitigate the river against flooding with sandbanks which failed poorly.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Balkh Province}}
{{Samangan Province}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|36.766007|N|67.702446|E|region:RU_type:mountain|display=title}}
Category:Rivers of Afghanistan