Two-Decade-Old Afghan War Has Claimed 241,000 Lives, $2.26 Trillion

A report released on the two-decade-old war in Afghanistan says 241,000 people, including Americans, have been killed in the war in 20 years.

According to research, these deaths were directly caused by this war. These include the deaths of 71,344 civilians, 2,442 US military personnel, 78,314 Afghan security personnel and 84,191 insurgents.

According to a report released on Friday this week, the United States has so far spent $2.26 trillion on this war.

According to the Cost of War Project, a joint venture between the Watson Institute at Brown University in the United States and the Pardee Center at Boston University, the financial costs include operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that US troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this year.

The US president said it was time to end the ongoing war and withdraw the 3,000 troops stationed there, starting May 1 this year.

Catherine Lutz, co-director of the study and a professor at Brown University, said the figures were evidence of the war damage suffered by the Afghan people, then the military and the American people.

According to Catherine, ending the war as soon as possible is the logical and humane solution.

Neta Crawford, a Boston University professor and lead researcher, described the figures as only a fraction of the cost.

The report says the Pentagon’s $443 billion budget includes $296 billion for the care of veterans, $530 billion in debt for military deployments in South Asian countries, and overseas that includes $59 billion in emergency funding.

According to Crawford, funds spent in Afghanistan include the spread of the war to Pakistan, millions of refugees and IDPs, fighters and non-combatants, and spending on US troops.

Pakistan, which was part of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, conducted military operations in an area of ​​about 2,600 km, with the help of international forces in Afghanistan.

The costs of these operations were paid to Pakistan by Washington in the form of the Coalition Support Fund, which was set up for this purpose.

The Cost of War project was created 10 years ago by a group of scholars and experts to estimate the cost of the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

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