Nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan has killed 241,000 people, including Americans, and cost the US $ 2.26 trillion, reveals new analysis by the Watson Institute’s ‘War Costs Project’ for International and Public Affairs from Brown University.
The figure of 241,000 people is the direct result of the war and does not include deaths caused by disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure and/or other indirect consequences of the conflict, the report emphasizes.
On the other hand, the spending of 2.26 trillion dollars in the war (both in operations in Afghanistan and in Pakistan), does not include the funds that the US Government is obliged to spend on the lifetime care of US veterans of this war, nor will future interest payments on money loaned to finance the conflict.
“These horrific figures are testimony to the costs of the war, first for the Afghan people and then for the US soldiers and people,” said Catherine Lutz, co-director of the project and professor at Brown University. “Ending the war as soon as possible is the only rational and humane thing to do,” he added.
This Wednesday, the US president, Joe Biden, announced that the nearly 2,500 soldiers from his country who still remain in Afghanistan would return home before September 11 of this year, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Yes, the reason that Washington alleged to deploy its forces in the Central Asian country.
