FARAH RIVER

Dari Persian in full Darya-ye Farah Rud, river in western Afghanistan, rising on the southern slopes of the Band-e Bayan Range, flowing southwest past the town of Farah, and emptying into the Helmand (Sistan) swamps on the Iranian border after a course of 350 miles (560 km). The river fluctuates greatly with the seasons, sometimes flooding in the spring and becoming impassable. Its waters are used for irrigation along much of its length.