The United States has spent an estimated $2,261,000,000,000, or more than $2 trillion unleasing this mayhem before retreating, are they looking for another target now….
Here are the numbers according to the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/20/afghanistan-war-key-numbers/):
2001 This is the year the United States launched the war in Afghanistan.
2014 The year the war officially ended.
20 Year, The number of years U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan, making it America’s longest military engagement
5,200 That’s the number of U.S. military troops still in Kabul as of Thursday, according to a Pentagon news briefing.
4 The number of U.S. presidents who have presided over the Afghan war.
800,000 The number of American service members who have served in Afghanistan since October 2001, according to the Defense Department.
2,352 The number of U.S. military members who have died in Afghanistan as of this month, per the Defense Department.
20,000 The number of American service members who have been wounded in the war effort, per the Defense Department.
66,000 The estimated number of Afghan military and national police killed in the conflict.
47,245 The number of Afghan civilians killed, per Brown University’s Costs of War project.
51 The number of countries including NATO and partner nations that have fought in the Afghanistan war.
1,144 The number of allied service members, including those from other NATO member states, who have died in Afghanistan.
444 The number of humanitarian aid workers killed in the conflict as of April, per Brown.
75 The number of journalists and media workers killed in the country between 2001 and this year, per the Committee to Protect Journalists.
51,191 The estimated number of anti-government opposition fighters in Afghanistan killed.
2,977 Men, women and children were killed in the 9/11 attacks, according to the National September 11 Memorial Museum.
2,261,000,000,000 The total ongoing cost to the United States of the Afghan war is more than $2 trillion, per Brown, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
145,000,000,000 The amount the United States has provided to implement reconstruction programs in Afghanistan since 2002 is more than $145 billion, according to SIGAR.
2,500,000 The current number of registered Afghan refugees who have fled the country.
270,000 An estimate of the number of Afghans internally displaced since the start of 2021.
169 That’s where Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, falls among 189 countries ranked in the Human Development Index.
62 That’s the percentage of Americans who said this week that the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting, according to an opinion poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted Aug. 12–16.
Dear Americans,
I hope that you feel satiated as another country has been razed to the ground, your hunger, thirst or whatever else for revenge has been temporarily put to rest. However, we in the East, not Western Europe, don't you worry about that, but the dumpsite for your Military-Industrial Complex wait in anticipation of yet another excuse to get Democracitized. As the US troops and their helpers leave Afghanistan in a rush, getting packed in military transporters like sardines, our anxiety and stress get to a breaking level. Eric Prince, the famed cowboy of “Blackwater and Xi International” is busy milking dead cows charging a whopping 6500$ per seat fare; No business class option isn't available I guess.
Imagine living in a remote village in a hilly punishable environment that is days from any small town; electric supply is also sporadic and you survive on a limited agriculture and animal husbandry. In winters the place is completely cut off and its impossible to traverse the rocky terrain. In the midst of all these challenges you regularly see a gray UAW hovering overhead and at times this beast spews venom in the form of a “Hellfire Missile”. The heat from this weapon is enough to evaporate metal, what to say about humans. This UAW is being controlled by a twenty something sitting thousands of miles away in some military base in the United States who has pulled the trigger on a half cooked information while sipping his morning brew. He is well aware that this intel might be a result of a personal enmity between the informer and the target but he doesn't care, his orders are clear; pull the trigger as soon as you get the signal and boom. The psychological trauma faced by the individuals living in these areas has been devastating. This is Nothern Waziristan in Pakistan, an area regularly bombarded through Predator Drones.
Similar stories are shared from Afghnistan where a hundred students were killed in a drone attack, it had been an oops moment for the US but these innocent students had done nothing but gathered to collect their graduation certificates. Shall I go to Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and so much more.
Now I can go on and on with my rant but we won’t get anywhere so I would like to offer a solution. I would strongly urge you to define our lands as American States and claim the natural resources that you are so painstakingly taking with several alibis. Our countries should be classified as “Reservations” similar to the ones American Indians have been relegated to. Do not allow the nationals of these new States enter the US but do let us vote in your elections so we can select the one having dropped a few less bombs than his rival. We promise not to raise any slogans of “ULM”, ULM being “Useless Lives Matter”. Take all the natural resources and send us McDonalds, Burger King and other healthy option outlets.
But, stop reducing our men, women and kids to smithereens, take your bombs and weapons elsewhere. Steal all you need of oil, copper, zinc, steel and whatever else but let our kids live. Your exemplary lifestyle and COVID support cheques have the blood of our people as well so the next time you are boasting proudly of your values, do look in the mirror and see the funerals in far off lands.
These platforms are meant for a dialogue across regions and I would like to reach out to saner voices to hear us out.
Waiting.
