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The Helmand River (also Helmend, Helmund, Hirmand or Tarnak) is the longest river in Afghanistan. It rises in the Hindu Kush, some 50 km to the west of Kabul, flows roughly south-west for about 1130 km, and empties into marshland, the Hamun-i-Helmand, around Zabol at the Iran-Afghan border.

The ancient overland route from the lower Indus River (Sind) followed this river passing by Kandahar to southern Persia and the Persian Gulf. The hot, steamy conditions in the Helmand Valley were well suited for the breeding of elephants, the ancient equivalent of tanks.

The Helmand has been suggested as a possible identity of the Vedic Saraswati River.

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References

• Toynbee, Arnold J. (1961). Between Oxus and Jumna. London. Oxford University Press.
• Vogelsang, W. (1985). "Early historical Arachosia in South-east Afghanistan; Meeting-place between East and West." Iranica antiqua, 20 (1985), pp. 55-99.

• Afghanistan geography stubs
• Rivers of Afghanistan