America spent $2.261 trillion on the War in Afghanistan.
According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute, the United States federal government spent $933 billion on war operations, $443 billion on war-related increases to the Defense Department’s budget, $59 billion on increases to the State Department’s budget, and $296 billion on caring for Afghanistan veterans — not to mention $530 billion for paying interest on war borrowing.
The project explains:
Since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the United States has spent $2.26 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Note that this total does not include funds that the United States government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war.
The Costs of War Project also estimates that 241,000 people have died as a direct result of this war. These figures do not include deaths caused by disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war.
The figures for Afghanistan are part of the larger costs of the U.S. post-9/11 wars, which extend to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere.
As the United States attempts to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan by the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban is quickly reconquering most of the South Asian country.
On Thursday, the terrorist organization seized Kandahar — the birthplace of their movement and the second-largest city in Afghanistan. So far, the Taliban has conquered twelve of Afghanistan’s thirty-four provincial capitals.
The Taliban managed to gain control of military vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, armored tanks, and artillery that were provided to American-backed Afghan security forces.
“These captured systems will increase the mobility and lethality of the Taliban, making them a more formidable adversary,” explained Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in remarks given to the Washington Free Beacon. “We have already seen the Taliban using captured humvees to patrol Kunduz and Sar-e Pol.”
The Pentagon is now sending 3,000 soldiers back into Afghanistan to evacuate American citizens and Afghan interpreters from the embassy in Kabul. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby explained that three battalions — one from the Army and two from the Marines — are entering the nation to assist with security at the Kabul airport; 4,000 Army soldiers were sent to Kuwait in case reinforcements are needed.