Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List - I (Country) A. Uzbekistan B. Tajikistan C. Kyrgyzstan D. Turkmenistan List - II (Capital) 1. Tashkent 2. Dushanbe 3. Bishkek 4. Ashgabat Codes :
- (a)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
- (b)A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3
- (c)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2
- (d)A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3
Correct — A, A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4. The capitals of the four Central Asian republics listed are Tashkent for Uzbekistan, Dushanbe for Tajikistan, Bishkek for Kyrgyzstan and Ashgabat for Turkmenistan — which is the natural, in-order pairing given in option (a). Every option concedes A-1, so Tashkent is a free gift and the marks are decided entirely by the other three: Dushanbe (Persian for 'Monday', from a Monday market village) with Persian-speaking Tajikistan, Bishkek (Soviet-era Frunze, renamed in 1991) with Kyrgyzstan, and Ashgabat, close to the Iranian border under the Kopet Dag, with Turkmenistan.
- (b)A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3 — It gets Uzbekistan and Tajikistan right but swaps the last two, giving Kyrgyzstan the capital Ashgabat and Turkmenistan the capital Bishkek. This is the option that catches candidates who know only that Bishkek and Ashgabat are 'somewhere in Central Asia'.
- (c)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2 — Only Tashkent is correctly placed. It hands Bishkek to Tajikistan, Ashgabat to Kyrgyzstan and Dushanbe to Turkmenistan — all three wrong.
- (d)A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3 — Again only Tashkent survives: Tajikistan is given Ashgabat, Kyrgyzstan is given Dushanbe and Turkmenistan is given Bishkek. A pure guess among the three unfamiliar names produces this kind of rotation.
The five Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — became independent states in 1991 on the break-up of the Soviet Union. All five are landlocked, and Uzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries on earth (every one of its neighbours is itself landlocked); the other is Liechtenstein. Four of the five speak Turkic languages; Tajikistan is the odd one out, its language Tajik being a form of Persian. Several capitals carry Soviet-era or older names in old atlases — Bishkek was Frunze until 1991, and Ashgabat is often spelled Ashkhabad in older question papers.
Read this as pure map recall with three memory hooks. Dushanbe means 'Monday' in Tajik/Persian and the city grew from a Monday market — it belongs with Persian-speaking Tajikistan. Bishkek is the name of the wooden churn used to make kumis, the fermented mare's milk of the Kyrgyz herders. Ashgabat, often glossed as 'city of love', sits at the foot of the Kopet Dag near Iran, matching Turkmenistan's position on the south-western edge of the region. Anchor the paper to its date as well: Kazakhstan is absent from this list, and at the time of this exam in December 2019 its capital was called Nur-Sultan, renamed in March 2019 after the outgoing president — the city reverted to Astana in September 2022, so a 2026 student should answer 'Astana' today.
- Capitals: Uzbekistan – Tashkent; Tajikistan – Dushanbe; Kyrgyzstan – Bishkek; Turkmenistan – Ashgabat; Kazakhstan – Astana (named Nur-Sultan from March 2019 to September 2022, so 'Nur-Sultan' at the time of this exam).
- All five Central Asian republics are landlocked; Uzbekistan is doubly landlocked, sharing that distinction with Liechtenstein alone.
- Bishkek was called Frunze in the Soviet period and was renamed in 1991; Ashgabat appears as 'Ashkhabad' in older texts and maps.
- Tajikistan is the only Persian-language republic of the five; Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Turkmen are Turkic languages.
- Turkmenistan follows a policy of permanent neutrality recognised by the UN in 1995 and stayed out of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which the other four Central Asian states joined; India engages the region through the India–Central Asia Dialogue, launched at foreign-minister level in 2019.
Answer (a): A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4. The highlighted row is where option (a) parts company with option (b) — get Bishkek onto Kyrgyzstan and the rest follows.
- Treating Samarkand or Bukhara as Uzbekistan's capital — they are the historic Silk Road cities; the capital is Tashkent.
- Being thrown by old transliterations in question papers: Ashkhabad is Ashgabat and Kirghizia is Kyrgyzstan.
- Assuming 'Nur-Sultan' is permanent — the same Kazakh capital has been Akmola, Astana, Nur-Sultan and Astana again, so always date the question.
Both UPPSC and UPSC treat Central Asia as a map-and-membership zone — country-to-capital matching, 'which of these border Afghanistan or the Caspian', and SCO/TAPI/INSTC membership — so learn the five republics as one block with their capitals, neighbours and groupings.
Consider the following countries: 1. Azerbaijan 2. Kyrgyzstan 3. Tajikistan 4. Turkmenistan 5. Uzbekistan Which of the above have borders with Afghanistan?
- (a) 1, 2 and 5 only
- (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only
- (c) 3, 4 and 5 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Answer(c) 3, 4 and 5 only
The same underlying skill — being able to draw the Central Asian republics on a mental map. UPPSC tested it through capitals, UPSC through which of the very same countries touch Afghanistan.
Which one of the following countries does NOT border the Caspian Sea?
- (a) Armenia
- (b) Azerbaijan
- (c) Kazakhstan
- (d) Turkmenistan
Answer(a) Armenia
The western edge of the same map: knowing that Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan front the Caspian while Armenia is cut off from it is the same locational knowledge that places Ashgabat and Astana.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Ashgabat is the capital of which one of the following countries?
- (a)Tajikistan
- (b)Kyrgyzstan
- (c)Turkmenistan
- (d)Uzbekistan
Answer(c) Turkmenistan — Ashgabat (older spelling Ashkhabad) lies near the Iranian border below the Kopet Dag; Dushanbe is Tajikistan's, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan's and Tashkent Uzbekistan's.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following countries is 'doubly landlocked', that is, landlocked and surrounded entirely by landlocked countries?
- (a)Kazakhstan
- (b)Uzbekistan
- (c)Tajikistan
- (d)Kyrgyzstan
Answer(b) Uzbekistan — all five of its neighbours (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan) are themselves landlocked; only Liechtenstein shares this status.