Afghanistan cost America $300 million per day for 20 years

[struggle4progress]

Christopher Helman
Hank Tucker

... In the 20 years since September 11, 2001, the United States has spent more than $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan. That’s $300 million dollars per day, every day, for two decades. Or $50,000 for each of Afghanistan's 40 million people ...

Those headline numbers include $800 billion in direct war-fighting costs and $85 billion to train the vanquished Afghan army, which folded in the weeks since the Pentagon’s sudden early July closure of Bagram Air Force Base eliminated the promise of air support against the advancing Taliban. U.S. taxpayers have been giving Afghan soldiers $750 million a year in payroll. All told, Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimates the total spending at $2.26 trillion ...

... the United States has financed the Afghan war with borrowed money. Brown University researchers estimate that more than $500 billion in interest has already been paid (included in the $2.26 trillion total sum), and they figure that by 2050 the cost of interest alone on our Afghan war debt could reach $6.5 trillion. That amounts to $20,000 for each and every U.S. citizen ...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2021/08/16/the-war-in-afghanistan-cost-america-300-million-per-day-for-20-years-with-big-bills-yet-to-come/?sh=46d151587f8d

[mahina]

1. Not even counting all the size hustles

Draining.

[Auggie]

2. Speaking selfishly ...

I just need U.S. democracy and climate to hold out for about 20-25 more years. After that the corporatists and autocrats can do whatever they want.

[ColinC]

4. If it could hold just a couple more decades after that for my sake, I'll be happy.

[Auggie]

5. I hope it can ...

count on my liberal progressive vote and conservation efforts until I croak.

[ColinC]

3. I'm really glad we spent our money on that instead of healthcare

Very cool!

[RANDYWILDMAN]

6. Nobody wanted to admit the fail, it was an EPIC FAIL

The whole damn time !

War is a racket

The MIC is a bunch of scammers


Soldiers can't cook
Soldiers can't do laundry
Soldiers can't fix broken items only contractors can

Why, because contractors want a piece of everything.

[wackadoo wabbit]

7. Now that we're not spending that money, can we start funding all those projects --

like Medicare for All, free college, maybe even a guaranteed minimum income — that everyone keeps telling us the country can't afford?

[leftstreet]

8. Don't hold your breath

Great ideas, but as Biden said in his presser

"These are the mistakes we cannot continue to repeat, because we have significant vital interests in the world that we cannot afford to ignore"

$$$

[gratuitous]

9. Still a bargain at twice the price!

At least, that's what we're going to hear any time now from our newly-concerned talking chuckleheads on the cable and teevee shows. I thought putting on David Petraeus was bad (and it was), but I really didn't expect to see Condoleezza Rice to manifest herself to explain to all us dopey proles just what a swell idea the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was and could be again.