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America has spent $6.4 trillion since 2001 fighting conflicts in the Middle East and Asia, according to a new research.

  •  Since the beginning of the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan in 2001, American taxpayers have spent $6.4 trillion. 
  • Over the last fiscal year, the government spent $2 trillion more than that amount. 
  • More than 801,000 individuals have perished as a direct consequence of war, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Cost of war: The 13 most expensive campaigns in U.S. history

Washington, D.C. According to a recent analysis, taxpayers in the United States have spent $6.4 trillion on military operations in the Middle East and Asia since September 11, 2001. 

In comparison, the federal government's 2019 fiscal year expenditures were $2 trillion. According to the Treasury Department, the United States government spent $4.4 trillion in the fiscal year that concluded on September 30. 

More than 801,000 individuals have perished as a direct consequence of war, according to a study by Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Over 335,000 of them were civilians. Violence has displaced an additional 21 million people.

Trump's team is preparing to pull out of Syria's civil war, and this news comes just as they are preparing to do so. Before this year, President Trump had to make a decision on whether to remove American soldiers from Afghanistan, but only after repeatedly voicing doubts about their usefulness. 

According to the study's author, Neta Crawford, the cost of America's conflicts is not borne alone by the Defense Department, therefore the $6.4 trillion number incorporates costs throughout the federal government. 

More than 80 nations have joined the post-9/11 battles in the Middle East and North Africa — "becoming a genuinely global war on terror." 

More and more military members are likely to file for veterans' benefits and disability compensation as the conflicts continue, according to new research. 

The total budgetary burden of post-September 11 wars will rise as the United States pays the ongoing costs of veterans' care and interest on borrowing used to fund the wars, even if it withdraws completely from major war zones by the end of FY2020 and ceases other Global War on Terror operations, Crawford writes. 

Each American taxpayer has spent $7,623 on the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since the beginning of the fiscal year 2018.

Will War Change How We Spend Or Invest Our Money?

Comments

  1. Rylee RobinsonApril 19, 2022 at 8:14 AM

    Hey Madison, Great post!
    It is crazy to think about how much money we have spent in foreign affairs. We as a country are already in so much debt as it is, but we continue to put money everywhere. I understand it since we do want to be able to prevent war as much as we can. When it the numbers are broken down, and each American taxpayer has spent $7,623 in just conflicts in the Middle East, it is crazy to think how much more will be spend in the coming years as inflation rises.
    Good luck with your finals and the end of the semester!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brock RedmondApril 27, 2022 at 7:46 AM

    Great breakdown on the costs over time of our war on terror, and specifically showing how much each taxpayer has paid was a nice detail! The fact that each taxpayer has had to pay over $7000 since 2018 on something that has no benefit towards them is crazy, and it's sad to realize that all the trillions of dollars we have spent on the war effort could have gone into funding healthcare, education, or infrastructure which are in desperate need of more funding. That is not even mentioning all the lives that were lost which could have been avoided, and the war will cost us more money long-term with veterans applying for aid like you mentioned.

    ReplyDelete

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