CNN.com<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\nTo what end? What have we accomplished? <\/strong><\/p>\nBy Larry Shaughnessy<\/p>\n
Keeping one American service member in Afghanistan costs between $850,000 and $1.4 million a year, depending on who you ask. But one matter is clear, that cost is going up.<\/p>\n
During a budget hearing today on Capitol Hill, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, asked Department of Defense leaders, \u201cWhat is the cost per soldier, to maintain a soldier for a year in Afghanistan?\u201d Under Secretary Robert Hale, the Pentagon comptroller, responded \u201cRight now about $850,000 per soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conrad seemed shocked at the number.
\n\u201cThat kind of takes my breath away, when you tell me it\u2019s $850,000,\u201d Conrad said<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s the case he\u2019d really be shocked by the estimate that the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments reached about the same issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost per troop in Afghanistan has averaged $1.2 million per troop per year,\u201d the center\u2019s Todd Harrison wrote in an analysis of last year\u2019s Department of Defense budget.<\/p>\n
Why the difference? Harrison said the center arrives at its figure by taking \u201cthe amount of money spent in Afghanistan for a year and dividing it up by the number of soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes Hale\u2019s estimate is lower because the Pentagon removes some costs, like construction, from the Afghanistan spending and divides that lower number by the number of troops.<\/p>\n
But one thing is clear, the cost is rising. Hale said the Department of Defense figure was until recently $600,000 a year. And Harrison said the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments\u2019 estimate for 2012 is up to $1.4 million.<\/p>\n
Harrison said there are two important factors contributing to the increase. There are fewer troops in Afghanistan than in 2011, and the latest Defense budget puts millions into war spending that in previous years were part of the department\u2019s base budget.<\/p>\n
Hale sees another reason why it\u2019s climbing. The major component of the extra costs in Afghanistan are higher operating costs for weapons. When you\u2019re in a war you are operating a much higher tempo. \u201cThat\u2019s a good part that\u2019s probably 50% of the budget,\u201d he testified.<\/p>\n
One thing is clear, the soldier impacts only a small percentage of that cost. A typical army sergeant with four years service makes a base pay of less than $30,000 a year.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did you see this from CNN.com? To what end? What have we accomplished? By Larry Shaughnessy Keeping one American service member in Afghanistan costs between $850,000 and $1.4 million a year, depending on who you ask. But one matter is clear, that cost is going up. During a budget hearing today on Capitol Hill, Sen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1732],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-issues"],"yoast_head":"\n
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