spending bill that kept the government from shutting down was some $110 billion for the war in Afghanistan. That's more than in any other year since the conflict began, although the Obama administration hopes to start winding it down this year.
President Barack Obama plans to begin drawing down his force of 97,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in July, although the size and nature of that drawdown remains unclear.
Here are a few facts about the costs of the Afghan war to U.S. taxpayers:
COSTS SO FAR
Congress has appropriated $386 billion so far for the war in Afghanistan, where the United States in 2001 supported the toppling of the Taliban after the September 11 attacks, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says. CBO is the budget analyst for Congress.
The total to date includes $38 billion for training and equipping Afghan military and police units. The goal is to leave behind security forces that can take on fighting the Taliban as U.S. forces start to leave.
But some recent events, including a massive jailbreak at an Afghan-run jail in Kandahar and a mob attack on a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, have raised doubts about Afghan security capabilities.
COMPARISON WITH IRAQ, COST OF BOTH WARS
The $110 billion being spent in Afghanistan in fiscal 2011 is more than double the $44 billion being spent in Iraq this year, CBO says. Two years ago, the relationship was the other way around; then, Iraq carried the far bigger price tag.
Afghanistan became the more expensive battleground in 2010 after Obama sent a surge of 30,000 more forces there and started drawing troops down in Iraq.
Nonetheless, over the years, the United States has spent almost twice as much money in Iraq as in Afghanistan. CBO says the total for the Iraq operations is about $752 billion since the United States went to war there in 2003, compared to the $386 billion for Afghanistan since 2001.
When operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are combined together and some "other" costs are added, U.S. taxpayers have spent $1.26 trillion on both wars, CBO says.
That total excludes about $8 billion in spending for medical care and benefits for survivors of the two wars by the Department of Veterans Affairs, CBO says.
FOREIGN AID AND CIVILIAN SURGE
Foreign aid, including development assistance to Afghanistan managed by the State Department and U.S. AID, has totaled some $25.1 billion since 2002, a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says. CRS prepares reports on issues that U.S. lawmakers ask it to probe.
Development aid increased in recent years as part of a "civilian stabilization strategy" by the Obama administration. The idea is to foster economic growth and improve basic services so Afghans feel they will have a better future with the Afghan government, rather than the Taliban.
The Obama administration has asked for another $4.3 billion for these purposes in fiscal 2012. With some lawmakers trying to cut overseas aid to reduce the U.S. government deficit, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, has warned that failure to adequately fund civilians working alongside his forces could "jeopardize accomplishment of the overall mission".
COSTS PER SOLDIER, AND THE FUTURE
Costs per troop per year in Afghanistan have grown from $507,000 in 2009 to $667,000 in 2010 and $697,000 this year, the Congressional Research Service says.
Some would argue this reflects the effect of deploying additional troops, mounting more operations and expanding infrastructure, the CRS said in a March report.
Future expenses are a question mark, partly because troop levels are uncertain. Obama says he wants to start withdrawing troops in mid-2011, but that will depend, in part, on conditions on the ground.
Iraq costs should continue winding down sharply, if the remaining 47,000 U.S. troops there are withdrawn as planned by the end of this year.
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