The Cost Of War: Examining The Financial Toll Of The Afghanistan Conflict

The US has spent trillions in Afghanistan since 2001, with the Costs of War Project at Brown University calculating the figure to be $2.26 trillion. This includes \$849 billion on the war, $88.3 billion on training the Afghan army, and $18.8 billion in foreign aid. The interest on the borrowed money alone is estimated to be over $500 billion.

The US spent $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan

The $2 trillion spent on the war in Afghanistan is a massive sum that has had a significant impact on both the United States and Afghanistan. In the United States, the war has resulted in high costs for veteran care, with more than $350 billion spent on medical and disability care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Experts estimate that more than half of that spending is attributable to the Afghanistan effort. The final cost is unknown, but it is projected to be an additional trillion dollars over the next 40 years as wounded and disabled veterans age and require additional services.

In Afghanistan, the impact of the $2 trillion spent by the US has been mixed. While there have been some improvements in the country, particularly in cities, the Taliban remains a powerful force, controlling or contesting much of the country. Opium production has quadrupled, and Afghanistan is now the leading global supplier of opium and heroin. Efforts to train and equip the Afghan military, which cost the US $87 billion to $88.3 billion, have been largely unsuccessful, with the Afghan army unable to withstand the Taliban advance.

The $2 trillion spent on the war in Afghanistan has also had broader implications for US foreign policy and global security. The failure of the US to achieve its goals in Afghanistan despite the massive investment has raised questions about the effectiveness of nation-building efforts and the use of military force to achieve political objectives. The chaotic withdrawal of US troops and the collapse of the Afghan government have damaged US credibility and influenced the approach to other conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine.

The US spent $800 billion on the Department of Defense

The US Department of Defense's DoD's budget for the 2025 fiscal year was $849.8 billion as of March 11, 2024. This figure represents a 4.1% increase from the 2023 fiscal year budget, which was $842 billion. The DoD's budget is the largest portion of the discretionary federal budget.

The DoD's budget funds six branches of the US military: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Space Force. The money is spent on salaries, training, and healthcare for uniformed and civilian personnel, as well as the maintenance of arms, equipment, and facilities. It also covers the costs of military operations and the development and purchase of new items.

The DoD's budget request for 2025 was $850 billion, which is a record-breaking figure. This amount includes a 4.6% pay increase for troops, funding for weapons, ships, and aircraft, and support for Taiwan and Ukraine. The DoD's budget is part of the National Defense Budget, which also includes nuclear weapons activities. The total National Defense Budget for 2025 is $895 billion.

The US has spent trillions on its military involvement in Afghanistan since 2001. The DoD's budget is a significant part of this spending, with nearly $1 trillion going towards the Overseas Contingency Operations budget for the department. The US has also spent 530 billion on interest on the money borrowed to fund the war.

The US government's total spending on the war in Afghanistan is estimated to be 2.26 trillion. This includes 144 billion on Afghan reconstruction and 88.3 billion on training and equipping the Afghan army.

The US spent $530 billion on interest payments

The US spent a total of $2.26 trillion in Afghanistan since 2001, with the interest on additional borrowing alone costing over $530 billion. This amount is included in the Overseas Contingency Operations budget for the Department of Defense. The interest payments are the second-biggest line item in the US's spending in Afghanistan.

The federal government spends more on interest than on science, space, and technology; transportation; and education combined. The household share of federal interest is larger than average household spending on many typical expenditures, including gas, clothing, education, or personal care. The federal government is projected to spend over $300 billion on net interest payments in fiscal year 2021—more than it will spend on food stamps and Social Security Disability Insurance combined.

The US government's interest payments are at a record high and among the country's largest annual expenditures. The Treasury Department spent a record $213 billion in interest payments on the national debt in the last quarter of 2022, up $63 billion from the same period a year earlier. The surge is mainly due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by 4.25% between March and December 2022.

The US government's interest costs are mainly determined by the interest rates on US Treasury securities and the amount of debt held by the public. The total public debt represents an accumulation of past federal deficits. In all but four years since 1970, the government ran deficits, which caused the national debt to grow at a rapid pace. At the end of fiscal year 2023, debt held by the public totaled $26.2 trillion, or 97% of GDP.

The US government's interest costs are projected to grow further. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that interest costs will exceed their previous high relative to the size of the economy, reaching 3.2% of GDP ($951 billion) in 2025. By 2032, interest costs will triple to more than $3 billion per day and to at least $9,400 per household, on average. They are on track to become the largest federal budget item, surpassing Social Security and Medicare by the middle of the century.

The US spent $88.3 billion on training and equipping the Afghan army

The US also provided the Afghan army with aircraft and vehicles, with the Defense Department giving the Afghan Air Force more than 130 aircraft. In July 2021, the Defense Department announced it would be providing the Afghan Air Force with additional aircraft, including 35 Black Hawks and three A-29 Super Tucanos. However, it is unclear if these aircraft were delivered before the fall of Kabul in August 2021.

Despite this significant investment, the Afghan army struggled to fight against the Taliban and often relied on US air and ground support. There were several factors contributing to this, including systemic corruption, low morale, and "ghost soldiers and police" who existed merely on the payrolls of the Afghan Defense and Interior Ministries. Additionally, the US trained the Afghan army in a centralized, national hierarchy and western style of fighting, which may not have been the most effective approach for fighting a homegrown insurgency.

The rapid collapse of the Afghan army and the subsequent fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021 have raised questions about the effectiveness of US training and financial aid. Some have argued that the US trained the wrong kind of army, focusing on a Western-style army instead of one designed to counter an insurgency. The failure of the Afghan army also highlights the issue of Afghanistan's reliance on US and foreign support, with the country's military spending being only a fraction of US military aid.

The US spent $300 billion on caring for 20,000 US casualties

The US spent $300 billion on caring for 20,000 casualties of the war in Afghanistan. This figure is expected to rise by another half a trillion dollars. The war has been costly in terms of both money and lives. The US has spent more than $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan since 2001, which equates to $300 million per day over two decades. This figure includes $800 billion in direct war-fighting costs and $85 billion to train the Afghan army.

The US has also spent $750 million a year in payroll to support Afghan soldiers' salaries. The war has resulted in 2,500 US military deaths and nearly 4,000 US civilian contractor deaths. The human cost of the war is even greater when considering the number of Afghan military, police, civilians, and opposition fighters killed.

The US government has financed the war in Afghanistan with borrowed money, and American citizens will continue to pay for it long after the war is over. By 2050, the interest cost on the war debt could reach $6.5 trillion, or $20,000 for every US citizen.

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