$ 5.6 trillion in US spending on its wars in the Middle East




BAGHDAD (Reuters) -
US spending on its wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2001 will reach $ 5.6 trillion by the end of next year (September 30, 2018), according to a recent US study.

The figure is more than three times that of the Pentagon.

The study, commissioned by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs of the University of Brown (US) in particular, estimated that these wars cost every American taxpayer $ 23,386, since the September 2001 attacks on the United States.

On June 30, the Department of Defense announced that "wars in the Middle East and Asia have cost Washington $ 1.5 trillion since 2001."

"US wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and increased spending on homeland security, defense ministries, foreign affairs, and veterans since the Sept. 11 attacks cost more than $ 4.3 trillion by 2017," said Wita's co-director of the Watson War Project, Nita Crawford.

"Potential expenditures up to fiscal year 2018 will exceed $ 5.6 trillion," she said.

This comes at a time when the US administration led by President Donald Trump in August announced a new strategy in Afghanistan to send more troops, and put increasing pressure on Pakistan, which called for the cessation of Tramb harboring terrorists.

"The American people should know the real costs of those missed opportunities and choices," said Catherine Lutz, a professor of international studies at Brown University who co-authored the study.

"Given that the current administration has announced engagement for more years in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere, that total cost will increase."

The $ 5.6 trillion "does not include funds committed by the United States for operations in the Horn of Africa, Uganda, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Central America in the framework of Operation Enduring Freedom launched by former President George W. Bush in 2001," the study said.

"These expenditures also do not include funds allocated for air strikes against a terrorist organization in Libya starting in 2016 or US counterterrorism activities in dozens of countries around the world," she said.

There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon on the data.

https://www.aljournal.com/5-6-%D8%AA%...8%D8%A8%D9%87/