| Ander Nieuws week 48 / nieuwe oorlog 2009 |
Bloomberg
November 12, 2009
Tony Capaccio and Mike Dorning
Sending 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan would cost an extra $40 billion a year, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said today.
Orszag, speaking at the Bloomberg Washington Summit, said "every 10,000 troops would entail a fiscal year cost of about $10 billion, very roughly speaking."
President Barack Obama may decide this month whether to grant a request by his top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, to increase the U.S. force of 68,000 in Afghanistan by as many as 40,000 personnel next year.
"It’s effectively the additional cost involved in deploying troops internationally in combat situations," Orszag said.
Orszag’s estimate was the first public forecast by the White House of potential Afghan war costs as the government prepares to announce its new strategy.
"These numbers are perfectly consistent with spending in Afghanistan today," said Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst with the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
"Of the $130 billion already requested in fiscal 2010, about $65 billion was allocated for the 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, a rate of about $1 million per troop per year," Harrison said. "There shouldn’t be any sticker shock about this."
The White House, in releasing the fiscal 2010 budget, said it was setting aside as a "placeholder" $50 billion for war costs in fiscal 2011 until a new strategy and troop numbers are determined.
The Pentagon since the October 2001 invasion has spent $155.7 billion on the Afghanistan war, according to the Pentagon comptroller.
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| Ander Nieuws week 48 / nieuwe oorlog 2009 |