Saturday, October 4, 2008

How much do we spend on Afghanistan?

Biden said "Look, we have spent more money -- we spend more money in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we've spent on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan building that country. Let me say it again. Three weeks in Iraq; seven years -- seven years, or six and a half years, in Afghanistan."

In 2008, we that would be $9B for 3 weeks in Iraq, yet, the total for Afghanistan is $172B (versus $635B total for Iraq during the same period).

Of course, Biden is comparing apples and oranges, trying to imply that the war in Afghanistan isn't being taken seriously. The $172B is the U.S. total, which does not include the support of NATO allies (which is a greater percentage of costs than in Iraq).

report

No comments: