USA Today reports that the cost of the war in Afghanistan is now exceeded the cost of the war in Iraq. The cost, which has been driven upwards by increases in military personell and fighting on difficult terrain, is now $6.7 billion per month in Afghanistan and $5.5 billion per month in Iraq.
According to a report by AntiWar.com the Senate is moving forward with a $59 billion spending bill, of which $33.5 billion would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan. Research by the Milken Institute, suggest that the long term cost of the war in Afghanistan could be between $1.5-$2 trillion. While Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes estimated that the long-term costs of the war in Iraq could be $3 trillion.
Currently there are 87,000 US troops in Afghanistan and there are 47,000 troops from 44 other countries, while the number of US troops in Iraq stands at 94,000. Estimates are that next year the number of troops in Afghanistan will be over 100,000 while the number of troops in Iraq will fall to near 40,000. Although according to a report by the Guardian, there may be a delay in the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq due to the uptick in violence and instability in the country. According to report by the Associated Press, military commanders are reconsidering troops withdraws due to the increased violence and because of the inconclusive Iraqi elections. Apparently this delay may be at least a month, and President Obama's goal of reduce US forces by a significant level by the end of August may not be met.
All of this coming at a time when revelations about a secret network of private spies have been reported on by the New York Times; spy networks that higher private contractors to operate both inside Afghanistan and Pakistan whose intelligence is used to kill terrorist targets. This is a violation of Pakistan sovereignty and it is a violation of military policy to hire private contractors for spying. There are also the reports about what has been referred to as "Obama's GITMO", which is detention camp at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Wired reports that a project that cost between $10 million and $25 million has been set in motion to build three new detention housing units. There have been reports of detainee abuse at the facility and another facility named Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail."
Despite all of this there is not a significant amount of opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and it seems as though most Americans view the Iraq war as already over. What has happened?
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