Here’s How Much the Afghanistan War Cost Taxpayers

August 18, 2021 by Reece Nations
Here’s How Much the Afghanistan War Cost Taxpayers
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, enters a plane evacuating people, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. (Capt. William Urban/U.S. Navy via AP )

Costs associated with the United States’ “Global War on Terror” have mounted significantly in the nearly 20 years following the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.

The underlying mission of the Global War on Terror in 2001 was to fortify the U.S.’s national security against future attacks by al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, culminating in military operations across 80 countries including Afghanistan. But prolonged post-9/11 military interventions were continuously financed not through the issuing of war bonds or by raising taxes, but through borrowing funds from both domestic and foreign sources that accrue interest over time.

Direct war-related spending by the Department of Defense and the State Department has already incurred $2 trillion in debt and cumulative interest payments of $925 billion, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project.

“The real costs of war are the human lives lost and the physical and mental traumas experienced by soldiers, their families, and the combatants and civilians in war-torn areas,” Heidi Peltier, assistant research professor of Boston University’s Department of Political Science and project director of the Costs of War Project, wrote in a Jan. 2020 analysis of post-9/11 war spending. 

“The Costs of War project estimates that globally, direct war deaths in the post-9/11 wars [primarily Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, and others] total approximately 800,000 lives lost. For the U.S., estimates of the human toll include over 7,000 soldiers and nearly 8,000 contractors and civilians killed, in addition to the physical and mental disabilities not included in the number of casualties.”

The Cost of War Project researchers’ total of $2 trillion cumulative incurred between 2001 and 2019 was calculated by combining the annual sums of the U.S. military’s “Overseas Contingency Operations” funding provided through both the Department of Defense and the Department of State, and other emergency supplemental funding. However, the cumulative total rises to $5.4 trillion when portions of the DOD budget attributable to war, the cost of veterans’ care, homeland security and other war-related expenses plus interest are added to its total.

Future costs of veterans’ care over the next several decades are projected to add another $1 trillion to this figure, bringing the cumulative total to roughly $6.4 trillion. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that the cost of caring for post-9/11 veterans with traumatic brain injuries between 2020 to 2029 will be $2.4 billion.

“Not only has the U.S. spent nearly $3 trillion [including interest] on war that this country could instead have spent on energy, infrastructure, education, and so forth, but Americans are going to continue to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on interest payments alone, rising to trillions of dollars over the decade,” Peltier said in the report. 

“By 2030, Americans will have spent over $2 trillion on interest alone, not for anything productive or even any military action that could ostensibly make us safer and more secure. The costs to the country are thus more than simply the funds used on war versus on peaceful activities, but they are even more importantly the funds wasted on interest payments rather than on productive investments, useful programs, or lower taxes.”

The prevalence of deficit spending has increased in this time as federal spending has outpaced federal revenues. In 2020, the national debt equated to 127% of the nation’s gross domestic product.

While around a quarter of that figure is intragovernmental debt, public debt held both within the U.S. and abroad in the form of securities, pension funds, mutual funds, and other public holdings, was equivalent to about 80% of the nation’s GDP as of 2020.

As of Aug. 2019, about one-third of foreign-held U.S. Treasury securities were carried by Japan and China, at about 17% and 16% of the holdings respectively. Interest payments on foreign-held debt inevitably end up being paid by U.S. taxpayers, whereas the interest payments would otherwise amount to domestic transfers from all taxpayers to individuals who hold U.S. treasuries.

Around 40% of the country’s public debt was held by foreign institutions and individuals in 2020, and that figure stands to grow more as federal borrowing increases. As deficit spending becomes the new norm in federal financing, wars will continue to be financed with public debt.

While war is not the only contributor to the national debt, the over $2 trillion in spending since 2001 on Overseas Contingency Operations raised the national debt by the same amount. 

“While the existence or growth of debt may or may not be problematic in and of itself, it is nonetheless useful to question whether debt is being wisely used,” Peltier said. “Policymakers should assess what the debt is being used for, whether it is productive, whether it will repay itself, or at the very least whether it will improve quality of life for both current and future generations. In other words, what is the opportunity cost?”

Peltier concludes in the report, “If we spent less on wars, thus reducing future indebtedness and lowering interest payments, funds could be used for other federal programs such as infrastructure repair, energy security, education, or health care.” 

A+
a-
  • Afghanistan
  • Cost of War Project
  • Defense Department
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • State Department
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Defense

    US Adults Fracture Along Party Lines in Support for Ukraine Military Funding, AP-NORC Poll Finds

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party lines in their support for sending military aid to Kyiv, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Democrats are more likely... Read More

    Biden Warns Opposing Ukraine Funding Plays 'Into Putin's Hands,' but Faces Resistance in House

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for House Republicans to urgently bring a $95.3 billion aid package... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for House Republicans to urgently bring a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to a vote, warning that refusal to take up the bill, passed by the Senate in the morning, would be "playing... Read More

    December 22, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    President Signs Order Giving Civilian Fed Workers 5.2% Raise

    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed an executive order fulfilling his promise to provide civilian federal workers with... Read More

    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed an executive order fulfilling his promise to provide civilian federal workers with an average 5.2% pay raise starting in mid-January. Biden had proposed the bump in salaries in the 2024 budget proposal he released last March. According to... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    House and Senate Reach Agreement on NDAA, Votes Expected Next Week

    WASHINGTON — The Senate and House Armed Services committees announced Thursday that they’ve reached an agreement on the FY 2024... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Senate and House Armed Services committees announced Thursday that they’ve reached an agreement on the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, jettisoning some, but not all, of the controversial amendments added by House Republicans last summer. Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Roger Wicker,... Read More

    Pence Calls Trump's Attacks on Milley 'Utterly Inexcusable' at AP-Georgetown Foreign Policy Forum

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday criticized his former boss-turned-rival, Donald Trump, for calling retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday criticized his former boss-turned-rival, Donald Trump, for calling retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a traitor over phone calls he made to China in the final stormy months of their administration. “Frankly what... Read More

    August 25, 2023
    by Tom Ramstack
    Lawmakers Assure Pacific Island Leaders US Will Help Them Stand Up to China

    WASHINGTON — Pacific island political leaders advised a congressional committee Thursday that China’s threat to them and the United States... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Pacific island political leaders advised a congressional committee Thursday that China’s threat to them and the United States is growing as its military prepares for a possible invasion of Taiwan. Guam, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands could reemerge as a focal point of conflict,... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top