Ian:

Before I retired (last year), I used to ferry aircraft through all sorts of out of the way countries, delivering these planes from the factory to the customer.

I've been through Anadyr, Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, too many times to count, and always been able to find ATMs everywhere, literally everywhere no matter how small and ratty the town, much same as you would find in Western Europe. Never had any difficulty sucking money out of them. I don't have much experience in countries ending in '-stan', but I suspect they will also have ATMs everywhere.

Some points for you to consider:

1) There are worldwide networks of ATMs, operating under brands such as Cirrus, Maestro, etc. Be sure that the ATM card you get from your home bank is affiliated with one of these major networks. Just look for the logos on the back of the ATM card.

2) Sit down with your bank manager and explain your travel plans. Make sure the bank manager notes that you will be going to all these weird places, and if necessary, have the bank manager increase the daily deposit and withdrawal limits (these are two separate limits) sufficient to meet your needs.

3) Make sure your ATM card is linked not only to your primary bank account (probably a chequing or 'current' account), but also to any other accounts that you may have.

4) Carry a credit card (e.g. Mastercard) that is also set up for use at an ATM, this in case you damage or lose the ATM card. It costs a fortune to suck money out of a Mastercard (it is treated as a cash advance, with usurious interest), but the ability to do so can be a lifesaver if for some reason you can't find an ATM that works with your ATM card, or if your ATM card becomes damaged & therefore won't operate.

Periodically the USA gets pissed off an another country and puts them on some kind of embargo or sanction list. When this happens, it totally disrupts normal credit card and ATM usage in the target country due to the imposition of financial sanctions. Up until recently, the only countries that I knew for sure were sanctioned (so far as ATMs go) were Sudan and North Korea. But, who knows what might happen with American sanctions on other countries, for example Russia and/or Ukraine. So, stay up to date on that kind of news.

Michael