Hundreds of billions of dollars: how much the U.S. war in Afghanistan cost

Negotiations between the administration of US President Donald Trump and the Taliban to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan have been ongoing for many months. Writes about this with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

Trump has repeatedly stated that his goal is to return US soldiers home and end the longest war in US history.

“Our goal is to end the longest war in US history and bring our troops home,” Trump said.

How many soldiers were sent

The United States entered Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, who American officials believed were harboring Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

The number of US forces in Afghanistan grew as spending on combating the Taliban and rebuilding the country grew.

Number of troops in Afghanistan (2002-2019):

• 2002 - up to 10 thousand;
• 2003 - 10 thousand;
• 2004 - up to 20 thousand;
• 2005 - 20 thousand;
• 2006 - over 20 thousand;
• 2007 - up to 30 thousand;
• 2008 - 30 thousand;
• 2009 - up to 70 thousand;
• 2010 - up to 110 thousand;
• 2011 - 110 thousand;
• 2012 - up to 80 thousand;
• 2013 - up to 70 thousand;
• 2014 - up to 30 thousand;
• 2015 - up to 10 thousand;
• 2016 - up to 10 thousand;
• 2017 - up to 20 thousand;
• 2018 - up to 20 thousand;
• 2019 - up to 20 thousand.

From 2010 to 2012, when the United States held more than 100 thousand troops in the country, the cost of this war was, according to the government, almost $ 100 billion a year.

After the US Army reduced its direct involvement in the conflict and concentrated its efforts on training the Afghan army, the cost of the war dropped significantly.

From 2016 to 2018, annual expenses amounted to about $ 40 billion, and for 2019 (until September) they fell to $ 38 billion.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, spending on U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan from October 2001 to September 2019 amounted to $ 778 billion.

In addition, the US State Department, along with the US Agency for International Development and other official organizations, spent $ 44 billion on reconstruction projects.

On the subject: “We didn’t know what we were getting into”: secret documents published about the failure of the United States in Afghanistan

Thus, the total expenditures for Afghanistan amounted to $ 822 billion since 2001, but it does not include the costs of military assistance to Pakistan, which is used as a base for military operations in Afghanistan.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the US military budget is larger than the military budgets of the 10 largest countries combined:

• China - $181 billion;
• Saudi Arabia - $78 billion;
• Russia - $62 billion;
• India - $61 billion;
• Britain - $55 billion;
• France - $52 billion;
• Japan - $49 billion;
• Germany - $49 billion;
• Brazil - $40 billion;
• South Korea - $28 billion.

The sum of the budgets of these countries is $ 655 billion, while the United States alone pays $ 685 billion into its military budget.

However, an independent study by scientists at Brown University indicates that official figures for the cost of the war in Afghanistan are greatly underestimated.

Researchers note that the US Congress has approved the allocation of assistance in the amount of up to one trillion dollars to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Neta Crawford, director of the Cost of War Project at Brown University, points out that this figure does not include other related costs, such as the cost of military pensions and veterans' health care, other departments' military spending and interest paid on war loans.

With all this in mind, the cost of a war in Afghanistan is approaching two trillion dollars.

What is the money spent on

Most of the money spent on operations against the rebels and on the supply of troops, medical care and the payment of benefits.

Official data also indicates that the United States spent about $ 137 billion on reconstruction projects. This is about 16% of all costs for 17 years.

More than half of this amount - $86 billion - was spent on creating the Afghan National Army, police and other security forces.

The rest went mainly to financing measures to strengthen the state apparatus and infrastructure, as well as economic and humanitarian assistance and the fight against drugs.

From 2002 until September last year, the United States spent about $ 1,5 million per day (total about $ 9 billion) only on the fight against drug production; however, according to the UN, the total planting area of ​​opium poppy peaked in 2017.

In 2017, the U.S. control organization responsible for rebuilding the country said that up to $ 15,5 billion were lost due to fraud, embezzlement and abuse over the past 11 years.

This figure probably reflects only part of the total damage. The organization also believes that American money often led to exacerbation of conflicts, corruption and increased support for the rebels.

Human losses

During the years of conflict, the loss of US forces in Afghanistan amounted to more than 2300 people, about 20 soldiers were injured.

According to official figures, as of December 2019, about 13 thousand U.S. troops were in Afghanistan, along with nearly 11 thousand civilian specialists.

However, casualties among Afghan troops and civilians were incomparably higher.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in 2019 that since 2014, when he became president, more than 45 Afghan troops have died.

The president’s decision to publicize the death toll was unusual because these data are not published by the US and Afghanistan governments.

According to local information agencies, in recent years, the Afghan security forces have suffered very high losses, sometimes the number of deaths per day was 30-40.

On the subject: How a Russian-speaking immigrant went through Iraq and Afghanistan and became a special forces police in the USA

According to the United Nations Office in Afghanistan, since 2009, when it began a systematic registration of civilian casualties, more than 100 people were killed or injured in the country.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

The US and the Taliban radical agreement conclude an agreement to begin the peace process in Afghanistan and end the longest war in American history that claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost billions of dollars.

The US hopes through an agreement to end the 20-year conflict and return home 13 troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The agreement says:

• US withdraws troops in 14 months if Taliban comply with agreement
• After signing the agreement, negotiations should begin between the Taliban and the Afghan government
• The Taliban will not allow any of its members, including al-Qaeda, to use the territory of Afghanistan to undermine the security of the United States and its allies
• The US and the Government of Afghanistan will release 5 thousand prisoners, the Taliban - up to a thousand prisoners by March 10

Read also on ForumDaily:

Americans pull out of Afghanistan: US and Taliban sign historic agreement

Do not travel: the most dangerous countries for the Americans in the world

Dark tourism: why people like to go to dangerous places

“We didn’t know what we were getting into”: secret documents published about the failure of the United States in Afghanistan

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.