- Is the war in Afghanistan an American war or a multinational coalition?
- What role does the Afghan army play in the war?
- What is the role of U.S. contractors?
- How much is the war costing the U.S.?
- How is the money used in Afghanistan?
- How does the financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to date compare to Vietnam?
- How many soldiers do we have in Afghanistan and how has it increased since 2002?
- How many U.S. and coalition soldiers been killed or wounded in the war?
- U.S. troops have never lost a battle in Afghanistan. Is that evidence we are winning the war?
- What is the difference between the Taliban and al Qaeda?
- Is Afghanistan a democracy?
- What is Afghanistan's largest export?
- Are Afghans Arabs?
Is the war in Afghanistan an American war or a multinational coalition?
Both, at different times. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in retaliation for 9.11, it was an American-only effort. Then on December 20, 2001, a NATO led force - the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) - was created to secure Kabul and protect it from the Taliban and al Qaeda. Over 8 years, that force has grown substantially, now including more than 64,500 troops from 42 countries spread throughout the country. Check this interactive map to see the international troops in each Afghan province.
What role does the Afghan army play in the war?
According to a December 2009 investigation by the London Telegraph, Afghan soldiers are recruited, usually from the mostly illiterate and often drug-addicted pool of young men needing jobs. . . . There are nearly 100,000 soldiers in the Afghan army, which is projected to grow to 136,000 next year. Karzai's allies are calling for up to 240,000 soldiers . . . . [O]f 94,000 Afghan soldiers trained so far, 10,000 have defected, and an estimated 15 per cent of the armed forces are drug addicts. . . . [A]verage salaries . . . [are] $200 a month. Afghan troops never conduct their own military operations unless they are directed by U.S. or ISAF troops and commanders.
What is the role of U.S. contractors?
The Congressional Research Service concluded: As of March 2009, there were 68,197 DOD contractors in Afghanistan, compared to 52,300 uniformed personnel. Contractors made up 57% of DOD's workforce in Afghanistan. This apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DOD in any conflict in the history of the United States. Some advocacy groups, like Change.org, have argued that some private contractor firms primarily Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) are private armies and that Congress should stop funding them.
How much is the war costing the U.S.?
The National Priorities Project provides an interactive calculator called "The Cost of War" that shows the separate costs of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The online calculator races along second by second. You can check on the costs for the entire nation or by individual states, as well as by household, person and taxpayer.
In May, 2010, USA Today reported that the monthly cost of the war in Afghanistan, driven by troop increases and fighting on difficult terrain, has topped Iraq costs for the first time since 2003 and shows no sign of letting up. The war in Afghanistan cost nearly $105 billion in the 2010 fiscal year. The cost of sending one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan for one year is $1 million versus an estimated $12,000 for an Afghan soldier.
So far, $345 billion of taxpayer money has gone to the Afghan fight since 2001, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But President Obama has asked for an additional $33 billion for an extra 30,000 soldiers and $2 billion for foreign aid and civilian projects. Although we have already spent $25 billion for training and equipping the Afghan National Security Forces, Obama wants another $14.2 billion in training for the rest of this year and next. Expenses beyond 2011, when Obama wants to start to draw down the troop levels, can't be estimated.
How is the money used in Afghanistan?
Seven percent of all money was for foreign aid and diplomatic operations, while the remaining 93% went to Department of Defense operations.
How does the financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to date compare to Vietnam?
The war in Afghanistan has cost $299 billion. Vietnam was the most expensive war behind World War II, clocking in at $686 billion in 2008 dollars (The Iraq War, in 2008 dollars, cost $648 billion, and the total war on terror since 2001 has cost the U.S. $860 billion, but that includes everything from chasing al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Somalia to increased security at airports and at ports.)
How many soldiers do we have in Afghanistan and how has it increased since 2002?
Image goes hereSource: Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues by Amy Belasco, Congressional Research Service (July 2, 2009).
How many U.S. and coalition soldiers been killed or wounded in the war?
iCasualties.org provides a series of interactive charts that allow interested researchers to study casualty figures in ways unavailable in previous conflicts. For instance, there are coalition military fatalities by year and by country, U.S. fatalities in and around Afghanistan, deaths from Improvised Explosive Devices, and fatalities bv province. Under each section are filters; clicking on the country for fatalities provides a list of each solider by name, date of death, their age and rank, what branch they served in, and the cause of place of death. Under the graph for fatalities by province, it's possible to again break the deaths into nationality or year, with more details available under each subsection.
By the end of May, 2010, 1,0001 U.S. soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan, and 776 coalition troops had died in service. Five thousand seven hundred and twenty-five American troops have been wounded. iCasualties allows you again to go beyond the mere numbers to check on the wounded by each state or by every month since the start of the war.
U.S. troops have never lost a battle in Afghanistan. Is that evidence we are winning the war?
Not necessarily. It's possible to never lose a major battle and still lose the war. Vietnam is such an example. Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the White House military adviser coordinating the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, told Newsweek. "We have never been beaten tactically in a fire fight in Afghanistan.
"To even casual students of the Vietnam War," wrote John Barry and Evan Thomas, "his statement has an eerie echo." One of the iconic exchanges of Vietnam came, some years after the war, between Col. Harry Summers, a military historian, and a counterpart in the North Vietnamese Army. As Summers recalled it, he said, "You never defeated us in the field." To which the NVA officer replied: "That may be true. It is also irrelevant."
What is the difference between the Taliban and al Qaeda?
Both are based on extremely conservative Sunni interpretations of Islam. And while they share many religious similarities, they are also fundamentally different in their goals and makeup.
Al Qaeda, which means "the foundation" in Arabic, was founded by Saudi radical Osama bin Laden in 1988 after a summit meeting with radicals from the fundamentalist Egyptian Islamic Jihad. It is a loose knit network composed primarily of Arabs and its goal is the forceful removal of all Western and secular interests from Muslim countries, and the creation of Sharia (Islamic law) states in some Western countries with large Muslim minorities (such as France and the United Kingdom).
The Taliban, on the other hand, started as a group of religiously conservative students, mostly from Afghanistan's Pashtun tribe, the country's largest. The word means "student." Started by a charismatic cleric, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban gained its strength and backing in rural regions of the country, and rallied the poor and disaffected in a successful military movement to overthrow a central government that was considered corrupt and inefficient. The Taliban took control of the country in 1996 and were not ousted until the U.S. military invasion after 9/11. As opposed to al Qaeda, the Taliban have no foreign members. Their ambitions do not extend beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan's borders (there is a Pashtun Taliban in Pakistan, just over the border from Afghanistan.)
The reason they are so intertwined for most Americans is that the Taliban had given sanctuary to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden because of their shared conservative interpretation of Islam and the Koran. After 9/11, the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden and other al Qaeda chiefs and also refused to expel the terror organization. As a result, George Bush held both groups equally responsible for the attack on America. Although some observers consider the Taliban as less of a threat to the U.S. national security interests than al Qaeda, there are still substantial rewards offered for the capture of the leaders of each organization. Today, the U.S. government offers a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden. As for the Taliban's Mullah Omar, there is a $10 million price tag for his capture.
Is Afghanistan a democracy?
Not as most Americans think of a democracy. The CIA World Factbook says Afghanistan is an "Islamic Republic" that has elected officials. No one can hold any office unless they are Muslim, and in almost every instance, male. Thomas H. Johnson, Director, Culture and Conflict Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, told the Council on Foreign Relations that "Afghanistan . . . [has] practiced pure Greek democracy at the village level for two millennia. There's almost an American arrogance here thinking that we could come in and install Jeffersonian representative democracy on this country . . . democracies make elections, elections don't make democracies. This is especially the case in Afghanistan, which we've tried to paint democracy on over the last eight years."
Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun political activist from a patrician Kandahar family, was appointed to run an interim government in December 2001, by the Western political powers in the so-called Bonn Agreement. Twenty-nine other Afghan political leaders, from different tribes were appointed to the Transitional Administration. Karzai was elected to his post as president in 2004 with 55.4% of 4.3 million votes cast in a runoff election. That national election was the first ever in Afghanistan's 5,000 year history. Karzai won again in 2009, but that election was marred by allegations of widespread fraud.
What is Afghanistan's largest export?
Opium. The CIA concludes that Afghanistan is the "world's largest producer of opium." Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. More opium poppy cultivation takes place every year under the Karzai government than took place during the entire five years of Taliban rule. Also, more land is now used for opium in Afghanistan than for coca cultivation in Latin America. Even with a 1/5 drop in opium cultivation in 2009, and low prices for the crop, the United Nations Drug Office survey on the nation estimates that about 90% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.
Are Afghans Arabs?
No. There is a small Arab minority in Afghanistan, but the country consists of non-Arab tribes. Most people do not speak Arabic. There is conflicting information about what is the most common language , with some citing Dari, also known as Eastern Persian, while the CIA Factbook claims it is Pashto. In any case, both are Indo-European languages.. Most of the early settlers were nomadic tribes from Central Asia, and they mixed with Greek and Iranian adventurers. Afghanistan has been conquered many times in its long history. Among those who invaded it were Alexander the Great - who wrote about how its people exhibited lion-hearted bravery - and later Ghengis Kahn. Some of the conquerors, including Turks and Mongols, stayed and settled in the local population,. While all citizens are called Afghans, most residents consider themselves loyal first to their tribe, not to any government in Kabul or the nation. The Pashtuns are the largest tribe and are often called the true Afghans. They make up about 40% of the country. The Tajiks, of Iranian stock, comprise nearly 25% of the population. Almost 20% of the country is composed of Hazaras, descended from the Mongols.
