Examining data before the U.S. war in Afghanistan and after the U.S. withdrawal, this infographic displays indicators of poverty, food insecurity, child malnutrition, women's rights, U.S. spending, and more.
William Hartung, "New Estimate Of Chinese Military Spending Doesn't Hold Water" Forbes, April 30, 2024...
Since 2001, between 1.9 and 3 million service members have served in post-9/11 war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and over half of them have deployed more than once. Many times that number of Americans have borne the costs of war as spouses, parents, children, and friends cope with their...
August 2022
Costs of War Project (2022)
SUMMARY AND PAPER >
March 19-20, 2023 marks 20 years since United States forces invaded Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, under the false claim that his regime was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. The ensuing war, in which U.S. ground presence peaked in 2007 with over 170,000 soldiers, caused massive...
This paper examines labor abuses during the war in Afghanistan, focusing on how the U.S. is denying legally-required compensation to foreign workers in war zones. The U.S. government leaned heavily on contractors to do its essential work during the war in Afghanistan. In 2020, approximately 65%...
August 2021
U.S. Costs to Date for the War in Afghanistan FY2001-2022 (in Current $Billions, USD)Total = $2.313 Trillion
Over the 20-year period of the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of Defense paid various companies about $108 billion in contracts for work performed in the country, according to our latest research. This is in addition to the trillions of dollars spent on Department of...
The United States military in 2017 chose to relax its rules of engagement for airstrikes in Afghanistan, which resulted in a massive increase in civilian casualties. From the last year of the Obama administration to the last full year of recorded data during the Trump administration, the number...
As veterans continue to bear huge physical and mental costs from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the costs of caring for post-9/11 war vets will reach between $2.2 and $2.5 trillion by 2050 – most of which has not yet been paid. The U.S. may shortchange its promises to these veterans if the...
April 7, 2023 Reuters
Reuters cited Costs of War on Afghanistan war deaths in an article about the Biden administration’s review of the pull out from Afghanistan (reposted in France 24.)
October 7, 2013 Truthout
H. Patricia Hynes: “Altogether the war in Afghanistan has cost American citizens $1.834 trillion, or 30 times President Bush's touted cost. The authors concede this is a conservative figure that excludes the social costs to families caring for veterans and record-breaking rates of veteran suicide, unemployment, homelessness, domestic violence and family breakup with its punishing setbacks for children. Nor does it include the collateral effects of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars: higher oil prices, intensified recession and the loss of domestic jobs.”
August 11, 2019 Military Times
The democratic candidates are problematically equating America’s “Endless War” with Afghanistan and only Afghanistan, writes co-director Stephanie Savell in an op ed in The Military Times.
June 28, 2023 La Prensa Latina
La Prensa Latina cited Costs of War on civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
November 3, 2022 The Dawn
Costs of War was cited in The Dawn (Pakistan) on the costs of the war in Afghanistan.
December 20, 2022 NBC News
Costs of War’s report on labor abuses of third-country nationals in Afghanistan was covered exclusively by NBC News (reposted in MSN.com and Yahoo.com).
January 10, 2023 Devex
An article in Devex cited Costs of War on the budgetary costs of the war in Afghanistan.
March 20, 2023 The Boston Globe
Costs of War contributor Linda Bilmes wrote on the US consequences of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in The Boston Globe.