Page "Central Asia" Paragraph 11

The UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders.

According to it, Central Asia includes Mongolia, Tibet, northeast Iran ( Golestan, North Khorasan and Razavi provinces ), Afghanistan, Northern Areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( also called N. W. F. P.

), Azad Kashmir and Punjab provinces of Pakistan, Punjab, Kashmir and Ladakh of India, central-east Russia south of the Taiga, and the former Central Asian Soviet republics ( the five " Stans " of the former Soviet Union ).