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

[ltr]$ 5.6 trillion in US spending on its wars in the Middle East[/ltr]







WASHINGTON (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.
[ltr]The figure is more than three times that of the Pentagon.[/ltr]
[ltr]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.[/ltr]
[ltr]On June 30, the Department of Defense announced that "wars in the Middle East and Asia have cost Washington $ 1.5 trillion since 2001."[/ltr]
[ltr]"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.[/ltr]
[ltr]"Potential expenditures up to fiscal year 2018 will exceed $ 5.6 trillion," she said.[/ltr]
[ltr]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.[/ltr]
[ltr]"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.[/ltr]
[ltr]"Given that the current administration has announced engagement for more years in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere, that total cost will increase."[/ltr]
[ltr]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.[/ltr]
[ltr]"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.[/ltr]
[ltr]There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon on the data. [/ltr]

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