FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Cost to US of Iraq and Afghan wars could hit $6 trillion
The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach as high as $6 trillion dollars – or $75,000 for every household in America – a new study from Harvard University has found.
The fresh calculation – which includes the cost of spiralling veterans' care bills and the future interest on war loans – paints a grim picture of how America's future at home and abroad has been mortgaged to the two conflicts entered into by George W Bush in 2001 and 2003.
"There will be no peace dividend," is the stark conclusion from the 22-page report from the Kennedy School of Government, "and the legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be costs that persist for decades."
The report comes as the US prepares for a final withdrawal from Afghanistan, a move that Barack Obama trumpeted in his State of the Union address as a sign that America was finally moving forward after a sapping decade of war.
However the working paper by Professor Linda J. Bilmes makes clear that the true legacy the two conflicts – which have cost $2 trillion in actual outlays so far – have not yet even begun to be appreciated.
"There's a sense that we are turning the corner, but unfortunately, the legacy of these wars, because of decision about the way we fought and funded these wars, means we will be paying the costs for a long time to come," Prof Bilmes said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "We may be mentally turning the page, but we are certainly not from a budgetary and financial perspective."
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