Blood and Treasure
Twenty years of war in Afghanistan cost over 241,000 lives and $2.26 trillion
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, at Brown University, has a “Costs of War” website which presents “U.S. Costs to Date for the War in Afghanistan, in $ Billions, 2001-2021” (published in April 2021). The cost in blood and treasure is immense. A link to the web page is at bottom; first, some highlights:
- Through April 2021, the U.S. “has spent $2.26 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
- Almost a quarter of the cost is on “Interest on War Borrowing to Date.”
- The Institute estimates that “241,000 people have died as a direct result of this war,” not including deaths “caused by disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences.”
- Total civilian deaths top 71,000.
No comment is necessary, and none is given except that figures from at least May through August 2021 will eventually be added to this.
[Edit, made April 8, 2022: the Watson Institute link originally cited below is down, so an alternate link at Military.com is given below it.]
The link: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/human-and-budgetary-costs-date-us-war-afghanistan-2001-2021
The Military.com link: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/04/16/bill-afghanistan-war-226-trillion-and-still-rising.html
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