Pakistan (Urdu: ǘÓÊÇä Pākistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia[5][6] (part of the Indian Subcontinent [7]) and is at a pivotal location[8][9][10][11] at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia.[12][13][14][15] It has a 1,046 kilometre (650 mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, the Republic of India in the east and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast.[16] Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. In recent times, Pakistan has been called part of the Greater Middle East.[17]
