The Cost of War
I started to look at the cost of conducting the war in Afghanistan, to see how expensive it has been to attain the current status quo in which we control about 2/3 of the country.
Here are some interesting numbers:
1. The annual GDP of Afghanistan is $9.358B and the cost of conducting the war in Afghanistan to date is around $225B.
2. Spread over roughly 8 years that averages about $28B/year or approximately three times the whole country's GDP/YEAR.
3. With a population of 27 million, that equates to $1037/person/year.
4. The per capita income in the country was at $800/year in 2008, or roughly 3/4 of what we've spent per capita/year.
My guess is that we would have been able to control at least as much of this 250,000 square mile plot of land as we do now after 8 years, and WITHOUT all the deaths had we just bought these people out. It would be like coming to the United States, and saying rather than invading your country, we're going to give each and every one of your citizens, children, babies, and infirm $62,510, (1.33 X average US per capita income of $47k), for eight years if you'll just give up those terrorists.
It looks to me like the only group who's getting what they want out of this conflict are the armament manufacturers and defense contractors.
I don't get it.
Here are some interesting numbers:
1. The annual GDP of Afghanistan is $9.358B and the cost of conducting the war in Afghanistan to date is around $225B.
2. Spread over roughly 8 years that averages about $28B/year or approximately three times the whole country's GDP/YEAR.
3. With a population of 27 million, that equates to $1037/person/year.
4. The per capita income in the country was at $800/year in 2008, or roughly 3/4 of what we've spent per capita/year.
My guess is that we would have been able to control at least as much of this 250,000 square mile plot of land as we do now after 8 years, and WITHOUT all the deaths had we just bought these people out. It would be like coming to the United States, and saying rather than invading your country, we're going to give each and every one of your citizens, children, babies, and infirm $62,510, (1.33 X average US per capita income of $47k), for eight years if you'll just give up those terrorists.
It looks to me like the only group who's getting what they want out of this conflict are the armament manufacturers and defense contractors.
I don't get it.
