HARIRUD

in full Rudkhaneh-ye Harirud, Turkmen Tejen, Latin Arius river, Central Asia. It rises on the western slopes of the rugged Selseleh-ye Kuh-e Baba range, an outlier of the Hindu Kush mountains, in central Afghanistan. Flowing west past Chaghcharan and the ancient city of Herat (whence its name is derived), then north, it forms sections of the AfghanIranian and IranianTurkmen frontiers. After crossing into Turkmenistan, where it is called the Tejen, the river disappears into the wastes of the Karakum Desert. The Harirud irrigates some of Afghanistan's productive, cultivated land. Its estimated length is 700 miles (1,100 km).