The United States has invested more reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan than it did rebuilding Germany after World War II. $60.45 billion has been spent in Iraq, more than $100 billion in Afghanistan. For comparison, the U.S. spent less than $35 billion in today’s dollars in Germany from 1946 through 1952. (And Volkswagen began exporting Beetles to American in 1949).
The Iraq expenditure is more than four times the sum committed to Iraq by America’s allies. In Afghanistan stabilization is expected to cost at least $9 billion per year through 2014.
These are reconstruction costs only; the total cost to the U.S. of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts exceeds $1.4 trillion.
We have a slide show for you with more details. Take a look, then consider this question in our discussion thread: are you surprised by these reconstruction costs? What do you expect this spending to achieve?
