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Since 2001, Congress has appropriated about $610 billion to cover the cost of US operations in Iraq ($450 billion) and Afghanistan ($127 billion), and for other operations and activities related to the war on terrorism ($32 billion).
This figure includes $538 billion for Department of Defense (DoD) military operations, $30 for training and equipping Afghan and Iraqi security forces, $39 billion for diplomatic operations and foreign assistance, and $3 billion for veteran’s benefits (see Figure 1).
It is impossible to estimate with confidence how much additional funding will be needed to cover the cost of these operations in 2008 and beyond—due not only to uncertainty concerning the size, duration and intensity of the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also to significant gaps in cost, funding and related data.
Earlier this year, the Bush Administration requested $147.5 billion to cover the cost of military operations in fiscal year (FY) 2008.2 Within the next few months, it reportedly plans to ask for roughly an additional $50 billion in 2008 funding, in part to help cover the cost extending the surge of US force in Iraq into next year.3 Adding these two figures to the amount already appropriated would bring the total amount provided for these operations to about $808 billion by the end of FY 2008.
However, projections of funding requirements for FY 2008 and, especially, beyond are highly speculative. Those costs could vary dramatically, depending primarily on how many troops the United States keeps in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for how long—and views among US policymakers and members of Congress differ significantly concerning these questions.
Illustrative estimates derived by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicate that additional costs could range from $481 billion to as much as $1.01 trillion over the FY 2008-17 period, depending on how quickly and deeply the United States draws down its forces. Taken together,these estimates suggest that the total cost of ongoing military operations could, ultimately (i.e., by 2017), range from some $1.09 trillion to $1.62 trillion, including perhaps $225-330 billion for the war in Afghanistan and $835 billion to $1.26 trillion for the war in Iraq.
This paper provides an estimate of how much funding has been provided for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere since FY 2001, describes how that funding has been provided and allocated among different programs and activities, provides a range of estimates of how much funding might be required for 2008 and beyond, and compares the cost of these operations to past wars.
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