“The US-led “war on terror” has killed nearly one million people globally and cost more than $8 trillion since it began nearly two decades ago, according to a report from Brown University’s Costs of War Project.”
“The landmark report, which was published on Wednesday, examines the tolls of wars waged by the US in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other regions where the US military is engaged in conflicts referred to as “forever wars”.”
“The report estimates that the war on terror, which will mark its 20th anniversary on 11 September, had directly killed 897,000 to 929,000 people – including at least 387,072 civilians.”
Project co-director Neta Crawford “said this was “likely a vast undercount of the true toll these wars have taken on human life.””
“The number of deaths caused by post-9/11 conflicts has been a source of intense controversy, as politics and inexact science have intersected in a heated debate of conflicting interests. In 2015, the Nobel Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility estimated that more than one million people had been killed both directly and indirectly in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan alone.”
“The economic costs tallied by the Costs of War report include $2.3 trillion spent by the US on military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, $2.1 trillion in Iraq and Syria, and $355 billion in Somalia and other regions of Africa.”
“The US tracks its own military deaths and physical injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq – but there are no conclusive government statistics on casualties and deaths among enemy combatants and civilians. This omission, critics say, is by design.”
“Authorities have also sometimes deliberately falsified details about deaths by US forces: “The U.S. Department of Defense’s shortlived (2001/02) Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) is one stark example of government-generated mis- and dis-information meant to influence public opinion in supporting its Iraq policies,” note the authors of “Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the ‘War on Terror’“.”
“Though the US no longer has a troop presence in Afghanistan, the “war on terror” seems set to continue, with the Biden administration signalling it will continue to target the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K), the Afghanistan and Central Asia franchise of the Islamic State group, via drones and other means.”
“On Sunday, a US drone strike against a suspected suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed a number of civilians. According to local media, the strike near Kabul airport, killed 10 members of one family, including six children.”
“The US also continues to have a military presence in Iraq and Syria, among other countries, and in recent weeks has conducted multiple air strikes against al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, in Somalia.”
“”What have we truly accomplished in 20 years of post 9/11 wars, and at what price?” asked Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War Project.”
“”Twenty years from now, we’ll still be reckoning with the high societal costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – long after US forces are gone.””
Read more: US-led global ‘war on terror’ has killed nearly one million people
Related: The Pentagon spent $14 trillion after 9/11. Up to half of it went to for-profit defense contractors., The US Has Spent $21 Trillion on Militarization Since 9/11, Up to Six Million People: The Unrecorded Fatalities of the ‘War on Terror’
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