River
Kabul River
460 km from source to mouth · Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan and AfghanistanFlows into Indus River7th longest in Pakistan
In numbers
Length
460km
Average flow
1,200m³/s
Basin
75,000km²
Drop
2,275m
from 2,543 m to 268 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
460 km of river and 25 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 2,543 m
- 73 kmLogar Rivertributary
- 86 kmKabul5,333,284 people
- 87 kmHashmat Khan Lake1.4 km²
- 142 kmPanjshir Rivertributary
- 142 kmKāsah-ye Band Naghalū10 km²
- 143 kmNaghlu Dam
- 152 kmSarobi Dam
- 184 kmAlingar Rivertributary
- 216 kmDarunta Dam
- 216 kmKāsah-ye Band-e Darūntah11 km²
- 219 kmSurkhrudtributary
- 227 kmJalalabad263,312 people
- 227 kmBehsud Bridge
- 227 kmJalālābād271,900 people
- 235 kmKunar Rivertributary
- 273 kmMuhmand Dara6,835 people
- 344 kmWarsak Dam
- 379 kmSwat Rivertributary
- 384 kmBara Rivertributary
- 407 kmAmangarh42,123 people
- 409 kmNowshera Kalan88,003 people
- 411 kmNowshera Cantonment30,599 people
- 426 kmAkora Khattak20,157 people
- 435 kmJahangira57,011 people
- 443 kmAttock Fort
- 460 kmIndus Riverat 268 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Afghanistan and Pakistan
At the mouth it carries 1,243 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.0 seconds. It drops from 2,543 m to 268 m, 4.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 75,000 km², about the size of PA. 22.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: July and from September to November. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KabulLargest city on its banks · 5,333,284 people
- Kabul International Airport (KBL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire in IslamabadDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May and from September to NovemberThe best months to visit
Kabul River, month by month
Highest water: from March to April
Lowest water: July and from September to November. Best months to visit: from April to May and from September to November.
From about 350 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Kabul River: the basin in numbers
92,572 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 22.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 244/km²people per km²
- 2,507maverage altitude of the basin
- 653mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.7°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 2%glaciers
- 8%permafrost
- 0.7km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 22% Forest
- 18% Cropland
- 37% Pasture
- 6% Towns and cities
- 2% Ice
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Kabul River: what you find on the way
- 22Weirs
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kabul River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
43mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Hashmat Khan Lakekm 931.4km²
- Kāsah-ye Band Naghalūkm 15110km²
- Kāsah-ye Band-e Darūntahkm 22811km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (43)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tōr Tsūk11 km away4,258m
- Safēd Kōh11 km away4,202m
- Kōh-e Qalandarān9.6 km away3,977m
- Kōh-e Siyāhī wa Allāh Sang11 km away
- Kōh-e Allāh Sang13 km away
- Kōh-e Shēr Murdah12 km away
- Spīn Ghar9.9 km away
- Kōh-e Sang Matū6.0 km away
35 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Kabul River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Indus RiverPakistan3,180 km6,600 m³/sTributaries (7)
Also: Swat River, Panjshir River, Logar River, Alingar River, Bara River, Surkhrud
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Afghanistan480 km370 m³/s166 km awayJhelum RiverPakistan774 km540 m³/s304 km awayGilgit RiverPakistan263 km1,000 m³/s296 km awayRavi RiverPakistan720 km230 m³/s366 km awayShyok RiverPakistan550 km130 m³/s368 km awayPamir RiverAfghanistan118 km13 m³/s350 km awayWakhan RiverAfghanistan220 km16 m³/s350 km awayBeas River
India470 km1,400 m³/s397 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q8515) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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