![]() For instance, in a shocking episode during 2012, a US soldier went on a shooting spree in rural Kandahar, killing 16 residents, including nine children, before setting their bodies on fire. The unemployment rate remains double-digit – a trend continuing for many years.Ĭontrary to what some media outlets might portray, there was a strong element of distrust between the Afghan people and the foreign forces there. With nearly half the Afghan population living below the national poverty line, the positive impact of foreign aid appears largely offset by the effects of the war.Ĭorruption has been rampant among government officials over the past two decades Afghanistan is ranked 165 out of 179 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2020. According to the World Bank, Afghanistan’s GDP per capita has fallen from $642 in 2012 to $509 in 2020. The Afghan economy has also been dilapidated by the war, especially over the past decade. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Pakistan has refused to host further US bases or facilitate any US military intervention in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, recently described the War on Terror as responsible for over 70,000 deaths and $150 billion economic losses in his country. Since being bullied into this war, Pakistan has suffered heavily from terrorism, with the attacks ranging from routine suicide bombings to a school massacre in 2014 that killed at least 134 children. Īt the time the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, it threatened neighbouring Pakistan to help the US in its war or else “be prepared to be bombed back to the Stone Age” – as recounted by Pakistan’s then-President, Pervez Musharraf. ![]() Afghanistan has suffered heavily from the violence, with civilians frequently “killed by bombs, bullets, fire, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and drones,” according to the Costs of War project. Secondly, the above figure does not take into account the tens of thousands of indirect deaths from the war, caused due to displacement, destruction of infrastructure, food shortages, malnutrition, and increased vulnerability to disease. The widely quoted figure of 174,000 Afghan deaths, resulting directly from war, is largely understated for two reasons.įirstly, civilian deaths in the non-US-controlled territories of Afghanistan were often not reported or reliably estimated. The real cost of the War on Terror, however, has been borne by the people of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. An estimated 300,000 US troops suffered from mental problems after serving in war zones like Afghanistan, according to a 2008 American study. This financial strain is in addition to the thousands of US and NATO troops killed or wounded in Afghanistan. This is not a one-time expenditure either the huge debt incurred by the US to finance the war would require servicing over several decades.Įven if no further war is fought by the US, the total interest payments for its war-related debt shall amount to $6.5 trillion by 2050. According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the war in Afghanistan has cost the US over $2.23 trillion. The massive losses sustained by the Americans are no secret.
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