WASHINGTON

- The Cost of War Project at Brown University has released regular updates showing that the Afghanistan war has so far cost the US Treasury at least $2.261 trillion, roughly $16,000 per federal taxpayer.

But the report notes that these costs are an underestimate, because the figures do not include money that remains to be paid for in relation to future health care costs for Afghanistan veterans, nor future interest payments on money borrowed to fund US forces staying there for nearly 20 years. .

The analysis estimates that 241,000 people were killed in the Afghanistan war, including 2,442 members of the US military, and suicides are many times that number.

In addition to the killing of nearly 4,000 American contractors, it also indicated the killing of 1,150 people among military and contractors from the countries of the international coalition, in addition to the killing of about 141,000 Afghans, including 43,000 Taliban members, and nearly 60,000 Afghan police and army members. In addition to 38,000 Afghan civilians.

As a result of the war, nearly 40,000 Americans were wounded, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Afghans.

These figures do not include the least indirect deaths caused by starvation, disease and water shortages, and more caused by the damage incurred during the war.


Unanswered questions

The cost of the war in Afghanistan remains an unanswered, official question in the US capital, especially when it comes to financial costs.

The cost of the war is divided into one part related to human losses, and another part related to the material cost.

Reports published by the "New York Times" revealed that the cost of the war in Afghanistan reached two trillion dollars, while other reports, governmental and non-governmental, indicated that the material cost of the war did not exceed the trillion dollar barrier, and the contradiction stems from the different methods of calculation, including some elements and ignoring other.

The New York Times confirmed that the number of American soldiers who participated in the war in Afghanistan over the past 20 years amounted to 600,000 soldiers at different periods, and there are currently only several thousand of them in Afghanistan protecting their country's embassy in Kabul, and transporting American diplomats and contractors outside Afghanistan.


Unclear financial cost

The various American government agencies do not agree on the existence of a clear and specific cost to the American war in Afghanistan, which has become the longest war in American history.

A former ambassador who served in several countries in the Middle East, who asked not to be named, explained that it is difficult "to arrive at a specific number that reflects the exact material cost of the war in Afghanistan, or other wars."

He adds that "each government agency has its own way of calculating what it has done and spent on, and not all of these activities are collected from one government agency, meaning that some estimates have greater credibility than others."

With Al Jazeera Net aware of a number of these estimates, it was clear that there are items that are added in some cases, and other items that are ignored.

For example, the American newspapers did not mention the costs of treating the wounded and disabled as a result of the war, or the expenses of the Department of Homeland Security related to combating and combating terrorism in their reports.

The former ambassador notes that "some elements of the material cost will continue for a number of years after the withdrawal, and there are thousands of injured Americans who will continue to receive treatment, financial rewards and pensions."

A compilation of a number of official US press, research and government sources (Al-Jazeera)

Deal now..why?

The former ambassador believes that "Washington aimed to eliminate al-Qaeda, and this goal was largely achieved, and Washington realized after all these years of war that the Taliban movement is a part of Afghan society that it cannot eliminate militarily."

Opponents of the US withdrawal criticize 4 issues:

  • The Taliban won and took control of the country.

  • Afghanistan is still the number one producer of opium in the world.

  • Most of the Afghan people suffer from poverty.

  • The victory of Afghanistan means abandoning the gains made by Afghan women, especially in the field of education.