KUSHK  , a

river of Afghanistan, which also gives its name to the chief town in the Afghan province of Badghis, and to a military post on the border of Russian Turkestan . The river Kushk,during a portion of its course, forms the boundary between Afghan and Russian territory; but the town is some 20 M. from the border . Kushk, or Kushkinski Post, is now a fourth-class Russian fortress, on a Russian branch railway from Merv, the terminus of which is 12 M. to the south, at Chahil Dukteran . It is served by both the Transcaspian and the Orenburg-Tashkent railways . The terminus is only 66 m. from Herat, and in the event of war would become an important base for a Russian advance . Some confusion has arisen through the popular application of the name of Kushk to this terminus, though it is situated neither at the Russian post nor at the old town . (T . H .