Cost of the war in Afghanistan

American Political Insanity at its best (worst)

In my book, Stop the Insanity Target 2014, one of the suggestions I make is that we should immediately withdraw from Afghanistan. There are many reasons for this including the fact that we are supporting an inept and corrupt government and that our sacrifices there will never be appreciated by the Afghanistan people.

Another other reason is the incredible cost of our participation in this insane war. An estimate by the National Priorities Projet estimates the total cost, as of May, 2012, starting in 2001, at more than $570 billion 1. Thats U.S. dollars and billion not million.

According to the CIA World Factbook as of early 2013 the population of Afghanistan was approximately 31,000,000. Simple math shows that we have spent more than $18,000 per person for every man, woman and child in Afghanistan. According to World Bank statistics the per capita income in Afghanistan was below $500 in 2001 but by 2012 had risen to nearly $1,100. So, the U.S. has spent more than 16 times the amount of the latest per capita number and some 30 times the average per capita income during the 11 years we have been involved. Please explain to me how this is not Insanity? Of course the estimate cost of the war to date does not include the cost of future medical care and other expenses we will continue to pay for veterans who were physically and mentally disabled during their tours in Afghanistan or for the losses in future income and productivity, not to mention the deep scars faced by the families, of the three thousand plus soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan. If we factor those things into the equation the cost probably will exceed $1 trillion and thats a big number, even for the idiots in Washington. I have only two questions: What insanity caused us to go there in the first place and why on earth are we still there?

1. According to the Costs of War counter by the National Priorities Project. Note that this data is current as of May 2012. For a detailed explanation of the projec and the numbers please go to http://costofwar.com/about/counters/