The War in Afghanistan, Eight Years On

It is hard to believe that the war in Afghanistan is eight years old. I remember vividly the day it started. I was in New York City, less than one month after the 9/11 attacks. I had wandered down to Ground Zero, where there was some kind of plywood viewing platform for gawkers like me. I overheard an NYPD cop, talking to some midwestern-looking tourist, use the word “Afghanistan,” and immediately knew that an attack had started. And the front page of today’s New York Times reported that Obama has ruled out a large reduction in the force in Afghanistan.

But at what cost? We received this press release from the excellent National Priorities Project about the costs of the war. It reads well alongside the article from TomDispatch I reposted a couple of days about the cost of the bank bailout, Follow the Money (and especially with the visual depiction of $1 trillion the author links to).

Eight Years of U.S. War in Afghanistan

The dollars add up.

Northampton, MA—October 7, 2009 marks the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. National Priorities Project (NPP) analyses find that, to date, U.S. military operations in Afghanistan have cost U.S. taxpayers $228 billion, $60.2 billion of which was spent in FY 2009 alone. Monthly costs in Afghanistan during FY 2009 averaged $5 billion, up from $3.5 billion per month in FY 2008.

In FY 2010, U.S. military spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is projected to be $130 billion. In the past, funding was split between the two U.S. wars at a 70/30 ratio, with the majority of U.S. dollars going to operations in Iraq. In FY 2010, this ratio is projected to shift, with Afghanistan war spending accounting for over 50 percent of total costs.

NPP has a host of Afghanistan War-related resources, including:

Cost of War Counters: Afghanistan, Iraq and combined.

War spending trade-offs: state, Congressional district and more than 1,000 cities and towns, helping to convey the magnitude and meaning of budget figures (see below).

“Quick facts” about Afghanistan: with troop levels, annual funding, etc.

Cost of War in Afghanistan: a primer on both the human and economic costs of war.

“The numbers are staggering. $228 billion in Afghanistan war spending equals 800,000 4-year university scholarships for U.S. students,” notes Jo Comerford. “$228 billion also means $469.1 million from Boston, MA taxpayers which is the equivalent of healthcare for 140,600 people; $1.5 billion from Alameda County, CA folks which equals 4,341 affordable housing units; or $89.2 million from people in Evanston, IL which equals 1,372 elementary school teachers.”

With the passage of the FY 2010 Department of Defense budget, total U.S. spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will exceed $1 trillion by March of next year.

For more information: www.nationalpriorities.org.