Afghanistan: A very, very long haul

Afghanistan: A very, very long haul - a decade in fact!

The Americans, and its allies, are presently bogged down in Afghanistan. British opinion is beginning to question their country's involvement in the conflict. Meanwhile, the human cost in deaths and injuries for the US continues to grow at a fairly alarming rate.

Not to minimise the human cost, the monetary one is tremendous. It also now is becoming apparent that the US will be bogged down in Afghanistan for what some say could be up to a decade - as The Washington Post reports:

"As the Obama administration expands U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that the United States is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that will probably eclipse that of the Iraq war.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan eight years ago, the United States has spent $223 billion on war-related funding for that country, according to the Congressional Research Service. Aid expenditures, excluding the cost of combat operations, have grown exponentially, from $982 million in 2003 to $9.3 billion last year."

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