This article from award-winning Izvestia columnist Malor Storu cites some startling statistics – mostly from the U.S. Congressional Research Service – to highlight just how expensive in lives and money the war in Afghanistan is compared to past U.S. wars.
For Izvestia, Malor Storu writes in part:
Since the time of Genghis Khan, several empires have tried to solve the “riddle of Afghanistan.” The latest were the English and Soviet. And they left with nothing for their pains. Now, having stepped into the Taliban trap, the Americans are the ones that have stumbled. This year alone, the Afghan campaign will have cost Washington as much as the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War combined (in fiscal year 2011 dollars). According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, with the exception of World War II, the war in Afghanistan is the most expensive war in American history.
A few more statistics to clarify the picture and add perspective. The Second World War cost America $4.1 trillion. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan – $1.15 trillion. But during World War II, there were 16.1 million Americans under arms, whereas now there are only 2.1 million. The Vietnam War cost America $738 billion; Korea, $341 billion; the First World War, $334 billion; the First Gulf War, $102 billion.
Such financial bloodlettings are hard to imagine. The United States, which quite recently occupied first place in the world in the number of people with a higher education, has fallen to 12th place. And betting on force turns out to be counterproductive even in Afghanistan. The budget for maintaining one GI in Afghanistan could be used to build 20 schools there. The cost of supporting 246 American soldiers would finance Afghanistan’s entire system of higher education.
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