Counting the costs of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan
By ISABEL DEBRE April 30, 2021
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — America’s
longest war, the two-decade-long conflict in Afghanistan that started in the
wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, killed tens of thousands of people
dogged four U.S. presidents, and ultimately proved unwinnable despite its
staggering cost in blood and treasure.
This final
chapter, with President Joe Biden’s decision to pull all American troops from
Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks has prompted a
reckoning over the war’s lost lives and colossal expenditure.
Here’s a look
at the spiraling cost of America’s campaign — the bloodshed wasted funds and
future consequences for the war-battered nation teetering on the brink of
chaos.
THE COST IN
LIVES
Afghans have
paid the highest price. Since 2001, at least 47,245 civilians have been killed
in the war as of mid-April, according to the Costs of War project at Brown
University, which documents the hidden costs of the post-9/11 wars.
Gun and bomb
attacks targeting civilians surged to previously unseen heights since the
intra-Afghan peace negotiations opened in Qatar last fall, according to the
U.N. Watchdogs say the conflict has killed a total of 72 journalists and 444
aid workers.
The Afghan government keeps the toll among its
soldiers secret to avoid undermining morale, but Costs of War estimates the war
has killed 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan troops.
The war has forced 2.7 million Afghans to flee
abroad, mostly to Iran, Pakistan, and Europe, the U.N. said. Another 4 million
are displaced within the country, which has a total population of 36 million.
Meanwhile, 2,442 U.S. troops have been killed and
20,666 wounded in the war since 2001, according to the Defense Department. It’s
estimated that over 3,800 U.S. private security contractors have been killed.
The Pentagon does not track their deaths.
The conflict also has killed 1,144 personnel from
the 40-nation NATO coalition that trained Afghan forces over the years,
according to a tally kept by the website iCasualties. The remaining 7,000
allied troops also will withdraw by Biden’s 9/11 deadline.
THE COST IN DOLLARS
The U.S. has spent a stunning total of $2.26
trillion on a dizzying array of expenses, according to the Costs of War
project.
The Defense Department’s latest 2020 report said
war-fighting costs totaled $815.7 billion over the years. That covers the
operating costs of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, everything from fuel and
food to Humvees, weapons, and ammunition, from tanks and armored vehicles to aircraft
carriers and airstrikes.
Although America first invaded to retaliate against
al-Qaida and rout its hosts, the Taliban, the U.S., and NATO soon pivoted to a
more open-ended mission: nation-building on a massive scale.
Washington has poured over $143 billion into that
goal since 2002, according to the latest figures from the Special Inspector
General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
Of that, $88 billion went to training, equipping,
and funding Afghan military and police forces. Another $36 billion was spent on
reconstruction projects, education, and infrastructures like dams and highways,
the SIGAR report said. Another $4.1 billion has gone to humanitarian aid for
refugees and disasters. The campaign to deter Afghans from selling heroin
around the world cost over $9 billion.
Unlike with other conflicts in American history,
the U.S. borrowed heavily to fund the war in Afghanistan and has paid some $530
billion in interest. It has also paid $296 billion in medical and other care
for veterans, according to Costs of War. It will continue to pay both those
expenses for years to come.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
Much of the billions lavished on huge
infrastructure projects went to waste, the U.S. inspector general discovered.
Canals, dams, and highways fell into disrepair, as Afghanistan failed to absorb
the flood of aid. Newly built hospitals and schools stood empty. Without proper
oversight, the U.S. money bred corruption that undermined government
legitimacy.
Despite the costly counternarcotics campaign, opium
exports reached record heights. Despite the billions in weapons and training to Afghan security forces,
the Taliban increased the amount of territory they control. Despite vast spending
on job creation and welfare, unemployment hovers around 25%. The poverty rate
has fluctuated over the years, reaching 47% through 2020, according to the
World Bank, compared to 36% when the fund first began calculating in 2007.
“We invested too much with too little to show for
it,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Century
Foundation.
THE COST OF LEAVING
Although few want to prolong the war interminably,
many fear its final end may jeopardize Afghanistan’s modest gains in health,
education, and women’s rights, made in the early years as the U.S. expanded the
economy and toppled the Taliban, which had imposed tough strictures on women.
Since 2001, life expectancy has increased to 64
years from 56, the World Bank says. Maternal mortality has more than halved.
Opportunities for education have grown, with the literacy rate rising 8% to
roughly 43%. Life in cities has improved, with 89% of residents having access
to clean water, compared to 16% before the war.
Child marriage has declined by 17%, according to
U.N. data. Girls’ enrollment in primary school has nearly doubled, and more
women have entered college and served in Parliament. These figures still pale
compared with global standards.
But more broadly, the failure of America’s
ambitions to build a stable, democratic Afghanistan has left the country mired
in uncertainty as U.S. forces leave. The nation’s history tells of civil war
that follows foreign invasions and withdrawals.
“For better or worse, the U.S. has a serious
stabilizing presence right now, and once that’s gone there’s going to be a
power vacuum,” said Michael Callen, an Afghanistan economy expert at the London
School of Economics. “In the 20 years’ war, there’s going to be a whole lot of
scores that need to be settled.”
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