A study conducted by Brown University's Costs of War Project estimated that conflicts in which the US military has participated have displaced at least 37 million people since the war on terror began nearly two decades ago.
Another study by the Costs of War Project estimated that more than 800,000 people died in conflicts in which the United States participated due to direct violence accompanying the wars, in addition to at least 335,000 civilians, and that the United States' involvement in those conflicts cost its treasury an estimated 6.4. Trillions of dollars.
The study, the results of which were reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, stated that the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent decades of instability in that country "uprooted" at least 9 million and 200 thousand people from their homes so far.
The newspaper considered that the highest cost resulting from the eight military operations the United States launched in Iraq, according to the study.
The study focused on the wars initiated by the United States "as happened in Iraq or Afghanistan" after the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the cities of New York and Washington DC, "the capital", or contributed to fueling them "as is the case in Libya and Syria", or participated in fighting them With drones, by sending advisers to the battlefields, and selling weapons and other means "as they did in Yemen, Somalia and the Philippines."
The Costs of War Project at Brown University, based on data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center in Geneva, Switzerland, and other destinations, estimated the number of displaced people in Syria at 7 million and 100 thousand, in Afghanistan 5 million and 300 thousand, and in Yemen 4 million And 400 thousand, and in Somalia it is estimated at 4 million and 200 thousand, in Pakistan 3 million and 700 thousand, in the Philippines one million and 700 thousand, and finally in Libya one million and 200 thousand.
According to the authors of the study, its findings indicate that the United States is not alone responsible for the large displacement of the population of these countries, but that "the reason for this is always the abundance of fighters and other actors, centuries of historical conflicts, and large-scale political, economic and social factors." ".
However, some researchers and analysts criticized the results of the study, because it did not indicate other reasons for displacement in isolation from the American intervention. An example of this is what is happening in Somalia, where the study shows that "displacement has shaped the way of life there for decades."
However, the Guardian newspaper believes that it is difficult for international organizations to make an accurate count of the numbers of displaced people, given the risks inherent in their work for their employees, in addition to the attempts of governments and private interests to influence the statistics for their own interests.
The study stated that about 25 million and 300 thousand people returned from displacement, but it also noted that "this return did not erase the trauma of displacement, or does not mean that those who were displaced have returned to their original homes or to a safe life."
Another study by the Costs of War Project estimated that more than 800,000 people died in conflicts in which the United States participated due to direct warfare violence, in addition to at least 335,000 civilians.
In addition, the United States' involvement in those conflicts has cost its treasury an estimated $ 6.4 trillion.