River · Afghanistan
Helmand
Helmand is the longest river in Afghanistan, rising in the Hindu Kush mountains and crossing the dry south-west of the country. It ends in Hamun-e Helmand, an inland lake with no outlet to the sea.
Picture credit: aka4ajax (CC BY 3.0) · Abdul Wali (Public domain) · U.S. Military staff (Public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Helmand?
The river starts here: Hindu Kush mountains in central Afghanistan.
It ends in the Hamun-e Helmand, an inland lake with no outlet.
Countries on the river: Afghanistan.
The story behind it
For most of its way the Helmand crosses desert, so the green strip along its banks stands out like a ribbon. Farmers there have dug canals for hundreds of years to water fields of wheat, melons and cotton. A big dam at Kajaki stores the spring floodwater and makes electricity. The city of Lashkar Gah grew up beside the river, and bridges link the villages on both sides. At the end of its journey the water spreads into marshes and shallow lakes on the border with Iran. Flamingos, pelicans and thousands of ducks rest there during their long migrations. In dry years the lakes shrink until they almost vanish, and people and animals must share far less water than usual. The river is the reason anyone can live in this hot, sandy region.
Questions children ask
How long is the Helmand?
The Helmand is about 1 150 kilometres long. That makes it by far the longest river in Afghanistan, longer than the whole country is wide in many places.
Which countries does the Helmand flow through?
The river flows through Afghanistan from the mountains to the south-western desert. Its water finally gathers in wetlands right on the border with Iran, so both sides depend on it.
Where does the Helmand flow into?
It does not reach any ocean. The Helmand ends in Hamun-e Helmand, a shallow inland lake with no outlet, where the water simply spreads out and evaporates in the sun.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: