Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
Since late 2001, the United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an
estimated $6.4 Trillion through Fiscal Year 2020 in budgetary costs related to and caused
by the post-9/11 wars—an estimated $5.4 Trillion in appropriations in current dollars and
an additional minimum of $1 Trillion for US obligations to care for the veterans of these
wars through the next several decades.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Armed Forces, Military Spending, 9/11, and War on Terror
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, and United States of America
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
This chart tallies direct deaths caused by war violence. It does not include indirect deaths, namely those caused by loss of access to food, water,
and/or infrastructure, war-related disease, etc. The numbers included here are approximations based on the reporting of several original data sources.
Topic:
9/11, War on Terror, Casualties, and Iraq War
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, Yemen, and Syria
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
All told, between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’
post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This tally of the counts and estimates of
direct deaths caused by war violence does not include the more than 500,000 deaths from
the war in Syria, raging since 2011, which the US joined in August 2014.
Topic:
War, Conflict, 9/11, War on Terror, Statistics, Transparency, and Iraq War
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, and United States of America
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9
trillion (in current dollars) on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including
direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post9/11 war veterans. This number differs substantially from the Pentagon’s
estimates of the costs of the post-9/11 wars because it includes not only war
appropriations made to the Department of Defense – spending in the war zones of Iraq,
Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in other places the government designates as sites of
“overseas contingency operations,” – but also includes spending across the federal
government that is a consequence of these wars. Specifically, this is war-related spending
by the Department of State, past and obligated spending for war veterans’ care, interest on
the debt incurred to pay for the wars, and the prevention of and response to terrorism by
the Department of Homeland Security. If the US continues on its current path, war spending will continue to grow.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Government, Military Affairs, Budget, Military Spending, War on Terror, and Veterans
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, Syria, and United States of America