The Republic of Uzbekistan is a nation in central and northern Middle Asia, bounded to the west and north by Kazakhstan, to the east by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, to the south by Afghanistan and to the south-west by Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan is doubly landlocked (that is, it is surrounded entirely by other landlocked states) - a status shared only with Europe's Liechtenstein. Although the capital has a reasonably modern airport, travel around the rest of the country is poor, and borders are not always open to neighbouring countries.