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Balkh River

The 883rd longest river in the world

km

The Balkh River (Pashto) or Balkhab, also known in its upper reaches as the Band-e Amir River, is a river in northern Afghanistan. The river rises in the Band-e Amir lakes in Bamyan Province in the Hindu Kush. The river flows west, then north, and terminates in irrigation canals in the area of the cities of Balkh and Mazar-e Sharif or in the desert. In times of exceptional flood the river drains into the lowlands of Turkmenistan. In ancient times the river terminated in a delta at the Amu Darya, but has not reached that river since irrigation canals were developed centuries ago.

Flows through: Afghanistan.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.

Other major rivers

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  2. Nile6,650 km
  3. Yangtze River6,300 km
  4. Bian River5,806 km
  5. Yellow River5,464 km
  6. Paraná River4,880 km
  7. River Congo4,700 km
  8. Mekong River4,350 km