Price tag for US ‘war on terror’ pegged at $5.9T
The US will have spent nearly $6 trillion on various wars and military
operations aimed at winning the war on international terrorist groups by
October 2019, according to a study released Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
The $5.9 trillion assessment by Brown University’s Watson Institute
includes costs expected to be accumulated through the fiscal year that
runs through September 2019, as well as past expenditures. It includes
not just spending from the Defense Department, but all of the government
resulting as a consequence of the wars.
That includes related spending by the State Department and Department of
Homeland Security, veterans care spending and interest paid on war
debts.
As a result, the figure is significantly higher than the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion estimates.
“If the US continues on its current path, war spending will continue to
grow,” the report states, noting that even if the wars the US embarked
on following Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are ended by 2023 the US
would be on track to spend an additional $808 billion.
“Moreover, the costs of war will likely be greater than this because,
unless the US immediately ends its deployments, the number of veterans
associated with the post-9/11 wars will also grow,” it adds.
After Washington embarked on its military campaign against al-Qaeda, the
group responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and the Taliban which offered
it safe harbour, the US invaded Iraq and went on a global campaign of
less expansive military efforts aimed at eliminating terrorist groups
and their leaders.
That has included a robust targeted killings program, expanded special operations and a global intelligence collection program.
Spending in Afghanistan and Iraq has amounted to nearly $1.8 billion
alone, despite a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq that was completed in
2011.
But Washington re-entered the fray in Iraq and later Syria, deploying
troops in support of partnered forces in the fight against Daesh, which
overran large portions of the countries before being rolled back through
an expansive American-led air campaign and train and advise mission for
local forces.
Watson’s study of the costs associated with the wars comes as a separate
congressionally-mandated report warns the US military “might struggle
to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia.”
Authored by the National Defense Strategy Commission, a bipartisan group
of former security and military experts, the assessment warned
Washington is not addressing the threats posed by Moscow and Beijing
quickly enough.
“DOD and the White House have not yet articulated clear operational
concepts for achieving US security objectives in the face of ongoing
competition and potential military confrontation with China and Russia,”
the report said, referring to the Department of Defense.
The commission called for a 3-5 percent increase in Defense spending above inflation in order to address the threats.
“Failing that, it may be necessary to alter the expectations of US
defence strategy and our global strategic objectives,” it said.
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