As near as I can tell, our nation has received near-zero benefit from combat operations in Afghanistan, one of the most corrupt nations on earth where most of the billions of dollars “invested” have been squandered or stolen by the kleptocrats the U.S. has supported. Every hour taxpayers in the United States are paying $32,077,626 for the total cost of wars since 2001.
The U.S. has been at war for almost 17 years in Afghanistan and 15 years in Iraq. (If the word “war” is too upsetting, then substitute “continuing combat operations”.)
Since the burdens and costs of these combat operations are borne solely by the volunteers of the U.S. Armed Forces, the American populace pays little to no attention to the wars unless a household has a family member in uniform who is in a war zone.
Permanent combat operations are now a barely audible background noise to Americans, something we’ve habituated to: the human costs are invisible to the vast majority of residents, and the financial costs are buried in the ever-expanding mountain of national debt. What’s another borrowed trillion dollars on top of the $21 trillion pile?