English: The Amu Darya River originates in the tall, cool peaks of the Pamir Mountains and flows westward across the arid Kyzylkum Desert, ending in a broad delta at what was once the southern end of the Aral Sea. Located in Central Asia, it is a transboundary river shared by Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan along its wandering 2,540-kilometer (1,578-mile) length. Wherever the Amu Darya delivers precious water, the arid desert springs to life. In this true-color image, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 20, 2023, the course of the river is colored in the living green tones of vegetation. In this location, Uzbekistan occupies the land north of the Amu Darya and Turkmenistan the southern region.