Editing Land mine (section)

==== Middle eastern conflicts ====
The [[Iraq-Iran War]], the [[Gulf War]], and the [[Islamic State of Iraq|Islamic State]] have all contributed to land mine saturation in Iraq from the 1980s through 2020. In 2019, Iraq was the most saturated country in the world with land mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|title=Global death toll of landmines rises due to mines laid by militants|author=Gwladys Fouche|work=Reuters |date=November 27, 2019|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408103956/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|url-status=live}}</ref> Countries that provided land mines during the Iran-Iraq War included Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union and the U.S., and were concentrated in the Kurdish areas in the northern area of Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. deployed 117,634 mines, with 27,967 being anti-personnel mines and 89,667 being anti-vehicle mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm |date= December 2002 |title=Landmines in Iraq: Questions and Answers|work=Human Rights Watch |access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014757/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S. did not use land mines during the [[Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|title=U.S. Military Did Not Use Landmines in Iraq War|work= Arms Control Association |author=IWade Boese|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127110354/https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|url-status=live}}</ref>

Landmines and other unexploded battlefield ordnance contaminate at least 724 million square meters of land in [[Afghanistan]]. Only two of Afghanistan's twenty-nine provinces are believed to be free of landmines. The most heavily mined provinces are Herat and Kandahar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2001 |title=Backgrounder - Landmine Use in Afghanistan |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223105010/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |archive-date=Feb 23, 2024 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) averaging to around 110 people per month. Improvised mines and ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 99 percent of the casualties recorded in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan |url=https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505153045/https://unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |archive-date=May 5, 2024 |website=UNMAS}}</ref>

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