The 10.6‐&mgr;m absorption in most KCl is shown to be dominated by a broad absorption band near 9.7 &mgr;m. The integrated absorption of this band decreases with increasing temperature. The temperature dependence is consistent with that to be expected from the dissociation of an absorbing pair. A KCl crystal has been measured whose 10.6‐&mgr;m absorption, 6.6±2×10−5cm−1, is at the intrinsic multiphonon level.