From TheBestLinks.com
The Helmand River (pronounced: hĕl`mənd) (also Helmend, Helmund, Hirmand in Dari: Darya-ye Helmand, Latin: Erymandrus) is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primarily watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin.
Sistan (http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sistan.pdf)
http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sistan.pdf
The Helmand river stretches 1,150 km (715 miles) from the Hindu Kush mountains about 80 km (50 miles) west of Kabul, crosses south-west through the desert, to the Seistan marshes and the Hamun-i-Helmand lake region around Zabol at the Afghan-Iranian border.
The river remains relatively salt-free for much of its length, unlike most rivers with no outlet to the sea. This river is used extensively for irrigation, although a buildup of mineral salts has decreased its usefulness in watering crops. Its waters are essential for farmers in Afghanistan, but it feeds into Lake Hamun and is also important to farmers in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province.
A number of hydroelectric dams have created artificial reservoirs on some of the Afghanistan’s rivers including the Kajakai reservoir on the Helmand River. The chief tributary of the Helmand river is the Arghandab river which also has a major dam near the city of Kandahar.
The flow of Helmand river was banded by the Taliban as a protest to take back from Iran the small Sistan region near the border, by the end of 2001 the Lake of Sistan Basin was left dried. However up on Iran in 2002 agreeing to help in reconstruction of Afghanistan, the new Afghan Government has released the flow of water.
History
Helmand River have long been the source of Civilization. Many artifacts and unstudied archaeological sites have been found along its boundaries. The boundaries of Helmand has been known as kingom of Sakastan, Median source of (Bishtun) mentions Sakastian (Land of Aryan Saka tribe), and also referred as major river of Rig veda.
External Link
[1] (http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sistan.pdf)
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