Yearly Price Tab for Afghan Forces: $6 Billion, Indefinitely

[unhappycamper]

Yearly Price Tab for Afghan Forces: $6 Billion, Indefinitely
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author
December 16, 2010 | 11:35 am

Want a good measurement of “NATO’s enduring commitment” to Afghanistan even after combat forces depart? The Afghan soldiers and cops NATO trains to secure the country are going to need $6 billion from international donors every year to keep operating.

Right now, the plan is to build up a force of 305,000 soldiers and police by next October, up from the 250,000 that NATO’s currently got in uniform. U.S. taxpayers have financed that force, paying $9.2 billion during 2010, and the Obama administration wants Congress to provide another $11.6 billion for them in the spending bill currently before Congress. That money doesn’t just help pay troops’ salaries. It purchases all the gear they need, like the Ford Rangers, armored Humvees, and Russian MI-17 helicopters they use for transport.

Col. John Ferrari, the deputy commander for programs at NATO’s training mission, estimates that “sustainment” for the Afghan forces will cost $6 billion annually — at least. In response to a question from Danger Room on a blogger conference call Thursday, Ferrari said that those costs include “fuel, repair parts, salaries, uniforms, individual solider equipment,” as well as $300 to $400 million per year for “capital equipment.” And that’s if the Obama administration and NATO decides early next year that 300,000 soldiers and cops are enough. If not, then NATO will need more cash from Congress to fund the plus-up — and, presumably, sustainment costs will accordingly rise.

To put that number in context, the CIA estimates Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is around $27 billion. Keeping soldiers and police fed, clothed, billeted, armed and equipped, realistically, will be a job for international donors for the foreseeable future.

Getting Afghanistan economically self-sufficient enough to pay for its own security depends on how fast it can develop its “mineral wealth” or “take advantage of being at the crossroads of Asia and the Middle East and can get revenue from the trucking industry or gas pipelines,” Ferrari said. “Frankly, I don’t know what those estimates are and anyone who says that they know is taking a guess as to what that might be.” It’s worth noting that some security experts believe that injecting large amounts of foreign cash into Afghanistan’s tiny economy contributes to its economic and corruption woes.

[ladjf]

1. Why in the Hell are we wasting the lives and money on this

pointless war? nt

[rug]

4. Here's the reason, if you buy it.

It’s important to remember why we remain in Afghanistan. It was Afghanistan where al Qaeda plotted the 9/11 attacks that murdered 3,000 innocent people. It is the tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border from which terrorists have launched more attacks against our homeland and our allies. And if an even wider insurgency were to engulf Afghanistan, that would give al Qaeda even more space to plan these attacks.

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/20565-statement-by-president-obama-on-the-afghanistan-pakistan-annual-review.html

[ladjf]

5. I've heard those reasons a few thousand times now. They are

political non-sense created by our government for some imagined political gains with American voters.
However, recent opinion polls suggest that Americans are losing their zeal for chasing the 9/11/ perps even further.

[Botany]

2. a friend's son just came back from there

the amount of corruption and the same people we train during the day come
back as Taliban @ night is staggering ....

Time to get out!

[Richard Steele]

3. K&R

[NNN0LHI]

6. Don't forget. This is what the majority of Americans once wanted

I guess they thought this kind of stuff can be turned on and off like a water faucet or something?

Most Americans are really stupid. Republicans know this too. That is a very dangerous thing.

Don