Costs Of The War In Iraq And Afghanistan
America had to bear a very heavy price tag for the war in Iran and Afghanistan. The price quoted by President Barack Obama was $1 trillion. A study reveals that even this staggering figure is an underestimate when the total cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are computed and when costs of Pakistan are included. The final bill of these wars could be as much as $3.7 trillion and some people agree that it would reach $4.4 trillion as per a research conducted by the Watson Institute of Brown University. These results were published in a paper called “Costs of War”. |
In the last 10 years, several United States troops went to Afghanistan to evict the Al Qaeda leaders after the September 11 attack in 2001. Then itself the United States Treasury spent about $2.3 to $2.7 trillion in war. Apart from spending on the logistics of war there were several other things like maintaining the obligations towards wounded soldiers and taking care of their families. These numbers will only soar up until 2020. The study also reveals that there is billions of expense that could not be accounted for.
As per the Department of Defense and the White House, the state department has spent about $1.3 trillion and this number could increase up to $1.4 trillion by 2012. However, the Watson University disagrees, saying that it is common computing and narrows down the possibility to measure actual costs.
More than monetary losses, nearly 258,000 people have died in the war, and this includes 125,000 civilians in Iraq. Several others have died due to the loss of access to common facilities like drinking water, nutrition and healthcare. Moreover, 365,000 people were injured and about 7 million people have been displaced from their original homes. The paper, Costs of War, is based on extensive research and nearly 20 academics were involved in a stupendous task of revealing the actual costs in terms of dollars and lives. The report also called that United States Congress and the Pentagon adopted sloppy and opaque accounting processes.
The report also strongly stresses on the point of extent to which the U.S. Budget will be stretched in the future. There are other concerns in the homeland like the ageing population and increasing health care costs. The common question asked by several people today is what has the United States gained by trillions of dollars of investment.
More Articles :
Reuters: Cost of War at least $3.7 Trillion and Counting
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/29/
us-usa-war-idUSTRE75S25320110629
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Today, Americans know Afghanistan because of 9/11. That tragic day led the US to attack Taliban forces in Afghanistan in the hopes of capturing Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks in the US. The Taliban was protecting Bin Laden, who was the head of the terrorist organization, Al Qaeda. However, Afghanistan is not new to war. Wars have been part and parcel of the country's history since time immemorial. 