Kushka

a city (a settlement until 1967) in Takhta-Bazar Raion, Mary Oblast, Turkmen SSR, located in the Kushka River valley on the Mary-Kandahar (Afghanistan) highway. The terminus of a branchline on the Mary-Kushka railroad. Population, 5,300 (1973). Pistachio groves and the center of the Badkhyzskii Preserve are located near Kushka. The southernmost point in the USSR is nearby.

or Kushk, a river in Mary Oblast, Turkmen SSR, and Afghanistan; a left tributary of the Murgab. Length, 277 km; basin area, 10,700 sq km; it originates on the northern slopes of the Paropamismus Mountains. The average water discharge at the mouth is 3.52 cu m per sec. The river dries up in summer. The city of Kushka is in the river valley.