A Generation At War: The Iraq And Afghanistan Conflict Years

The US-led war in Iraq lasted from 2003 to 2011, while the war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021. The war in Iraq was the second time the US had fought a war in the country in over a decade. The war in Afghanistan was triggered by the September 11 attacks and was fought in three phases. The first phase was brief, lasting just two months, and involved toppling the Taliban. The second phase, from 2002 to 2008, focused on defeating the Taliban militarily and rebuilding core institutions of the Afghan state. The third phase, which began in 2008, involved a return to classic counterinsurgency doctrine and saw an increase in US troops in Afghanistan. The war in Iraq resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 US service members and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The war in Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of more than 2,400 US service members, 47,245 Afghan civilians, and 66,000 Afghan national military and police.

The Iraq War, also known as the Second Persian Gulf War, lasted from 2003 to 2011

The invasion of Iraq was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003. The following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Governorate from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi Army, to secure the northern part of the country.

The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and were met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and the coalition occupied Baghdad on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi Army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack on and capture of Tikrit on 15 April. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations: this ended the invasion period and began the period of military occupation.

The invasion of Iraq was swift, leading to the collapse of the Iraqi government and the military of Iraq in about three weeks. The oil infrastructure of Iraq was rapidly seized and secured with limited damage in that time. The U.S. military formally declared the end of the Iraq War in a ceremony in Baghdad on 15 December 2011, as U.S. troops prepared to withdraw from the country.

The US-led coalition's rationale for invading Iraq was based on claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein supported al-Qaeda

The case for invading Iraq in March 2003 was built on three basic premises: that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs); that it was developing more of them; and that Saddam Hussein was failing to comply with UN disarmament obligations. All of these premises were based on scraps of unreliable information, and none of them were true.

In the lead-up to the invasion, the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, covertly supporting al-Qaeda, and that he presented a threat to his neighbours and the world community. In a speech in October 2002, US President George W. Bush declared that Iraq "possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons." He concluded that Hussein had to be stopped, stating: ""The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons."

The Bush administration worked to build a case for invading Iraq, culminating in then-Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 2003 address to the UN Security Council. Powell claimed that:

> "the facts and Iraq's behaviour show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction."

During the same presentation, Powell also alleged that al-Qaeda was attempting to build weapons of mass destruction with Iraqi support.

However, shortly after the invasion, the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies largely discredited evidence related to Iraqi weapons as well as alleged links to al-Qaeda. No evidence of Iraqi weapons programs was found, and the failure to find evidence of Iraqi weapons programs following the invasion led to considerable controversy in the United States and worldwide.

The US government's belief that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction was based upon documents which the CIA argued could not be trusted. Despite this, the Bush administration presented the threat of WMDs as a certainty before the invasion.

In addition to claims about weapons of mass destruction, the US also alleged that Saddam Hussein's government had ties to al-Qaeda. In February 2003, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified to Congress that Iraq had "moved to the top of my list" of countries supporting terrorist groups. However, soon after the start of the war, evidence of such ties was discredited by multiple US intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Department's Inspector General's Office.

The war resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 US service members and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis

The Iraq War, also known as the Second Persian Gulf War, was a conflict that lasted from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition that overthrew the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.

The war also resulted in the deaths of 177,000 national military and police from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria allies. In addition, over 8,000 contractors working for the US were killed in the two war zones.

The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021

The conflict was fought between the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist and predominantly Pashtun movement, and a US-led coalition of international forces. The Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and they provided sanctuary for al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.

The first phase of the war was brief, lasting just two months. It involved toppling the Taliban regime and removing them from power. The second phase, from 2002 until 2008, was marked by a US strategy of defeating the Taliban militarily and rebuilding core institutions of the Afghan state. The third phase, a turn to classic counterinsurgency doctrine, began in 2008 and was accelerated by President Obama's decision to temporarily increase US troop presence in Afghanistan.

The war resulted in heavy casualties. According to the Costs of War project at Brown University, more than 47,000 civilians were killed, along with 2,448 US service members, 3,846 US contractors, 66,000 Afghan national military and police, and 1,144 allied service members. The war also incurred massive financial costs, with the US spending $2.3 trillion on the conflict.

The US government has not provided a full accounting of the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

The US government has never provided a full accounting of the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, researchers at Brown University estimate that the US has spent $5.8 trillion on the war in Afghanistan and other conflicts stemming from the September 11, 2001, attacks. This includes direct and indirect spending on military equipment, homeland security, and death gratuities for the families of slain American service members. The war in Afghanistan has cost $2.3 trillion so far, and the conflicts in Iraq and Syria have cost another $2 trillion.

The true cost of war is often contested, as critics and academics have unearthed many hidden costs not represented in official estimates. The US Department of Defense's direct spending on Iraq totaled at least $757.8 billion, but there are also complementary costs, such as interest paid on funds borrowed to finance the wars. A 2013 study pointed out that US medical and disability claims for veterans after a decade of war had risen to $134.7 billion from $33 billion two years earlier.

The US has also committed to paying the healthcare, disability, burial, and other costs for about 4 million Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, which are projected to amount to more than $2 trillion. These costs will peak after 2048. The extended combat and equipment loss have placed a severe financial strain on the US Army, causing the elimination of non-essential expenses such as travel and civilian hiring.

The US government's lack of transparency around the costs of these wars has been criticized by researchers, who argue that it is one of the most important duties of any great nation when it goes to war. The public has a right to know the financial, social, and human costs of war, and the US government has a responsibility to provide a full accounting of these costs.

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