thumb|right|250px|The Panj River from space
The Panj, traditionally known as the Ochus River, is a river in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river is long and has a basin area of . It forms a considerable part of the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border.
The river is formed by the confluence of the Pamir River and the Wakhan River near the village of Qala-i-Panjah in the Wakhan District of Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. From there, it flows westwards and marks part of the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border. After passing the city of Khorog, capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan, it receives water from one of its main tributaries, the Bartang River. It then turns towards the southwest, before joining the Vakhsh River and forming the greatest river of Central Asia, the Amu Darya. The Panj played an important role during Soviet era, and was a strategic river during the Soviet military operations in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Water consumption
thumb|left|200px|The Panj near [[Kevron, on the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border]]
thumb|Panj river
A water treaty between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan was signed in 1946, allows Afghanistan to draw 9 million cubic metres of water a year from the Panj.
- Another bridge was built at the confluence with the Gunt River at Khorog in 2003.
- A bridge exists at Langar, which may still be closed.
The Aga Khan Development Network has been engaged in a project to build a series of three bridges across the Panj River between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
- The first of these bridges, connecting Tem on the Tajik side with Demogan on the Afghan side, was inaugurated by Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmonov, Afghanistan's Vice-President Hedayat Amin Arsala and His Highness the Aga Khan in November, 2002.
- This was followed by the inauguration of the Tajik-Afghan Friendship Bridge at Darwaz in July, 2004,
- The Ishkashim bridge between Ishkashim, Afghanistan and Ishkashim, Tajikistan was inaugurated in October, 2006.
See also
- List of rivers of Afghanistan
- Urta Tagay Island