Did I hear this right - are we are still spending $80 billion on Afghanistan

[Rosa Luxemburg]

When I was driving to work this morning I turned on local 'PBS' radio and thought I heard that we are still spending $80 billion on Afghanistan. With the cuts we have to endure in this country please tell me this isn't true?

[NYC_SKP]

1. Billion, Trillion, whatever they report is a lie anyway, right?

I think we're all numb.

Bring on the sports, the moonshiners show, the pickers and the twerk.

Something for everyone.

Hold me.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. Democrats are allowing this!

[NYC_SKP]

5. Oh hell yeah they are!

I got Boxer and I got Feinstein. Funny how nobody ever shits on Feinstein.

Then there's Hillary....

Heaven help us, Rosa Luxemburg!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. There seems to be two worlds

one that billions of money flows to every other country for pipelines, fleecing the corporations and then there is 'us' the ordinary people. Our school cannot afford proper soap and hand towels. We have no funds to run our program. The roads I drive on are full of holes, bumps and basically sinking.

[NYC_SKP]

7. Where do I get the tee shirt in your sigline?

:want:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. From Canada

I'll try to find out where.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. We should make this headlines

but nobody cares

[blkmusclmachine]

9. Most of that money probably goes into private hands. Of course, DC wants to steal it out of our

retirement accounts. Privatize the profits, and socialize the losses. And, "bi-partisan," too!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. I'd like a break down of what it is being spent on

[AZCat]

12. Death.

That's all it seems to have bought us over the years. Death for our troops, death for the locals, death for anyone caught in the crossfire.

[Igel]

11. Close enough.

Obama requested something like $85 billion for this year for Afghanistan.

That's about $1.2 million per deployed soldier, according to an "Analysis of the FY 2013 Defense Budget and Sequestration" from 8/12 at CSBA, whatever their affiliation is. Apparently ongoing military operations weren't part of the sequester. The writer makes the point that spending per soldier has been fairly consistent, whatever the troop levels.

That $1.2 million includes all sorts of things--logistical support stateside, their uniforms and materiel they use, staffing for support and paperpushing, as well as transportation. A lot of that money's spent in the US. Take it away and you're looking at 100k or more directly employed by the DOD suddenly getting unemployment, plus layoffs among a lot of vendors. Most of the money would just be distributed differently, with winners and losers. Actual savings wouldn't be that great.

Some of that money, of course, goes to circumvent Pakistan's obstacles in providing support, so Russia gets some fees, as does a few other neighboring countries. Pakistan gets a lot of $, though. This would be "savings", but you know a lot of that would be repurposed as aid to buy Pakistan's loyalty or help fight terra or something.


And while budget savings as of 2015 include $0 for Afghanistan, a current administration fit is being thrown over Karzai's refusal to sign a security cooperation agreement that would keep some US troops in Afghanistan after 2014.