A report by a non-profit organization which tracks American military spending says the total cost of the US military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan has crossed $1 trillion.
According to a report released Thursday by "National Priorities Project," the ongoing military operations in the two war-ravaged nations are the most expensive ever carried out by American forces since the end of the Second World War.
The war entered its 104th month yesterday, with 30,000 American troops being deployed in the first half of this year alone.
The last U.S. ground combat soldiers were brought home from Vietnam after 103 months of fighting.
While the US engagement against Taliban militants in Afghanistan started in October 2001, the invasion of Iraq took place in March 2003.
Besides the economic aspect, the report also throws light on what all public initiatives that could have been realized using the vast sums spent on the military operation. It would have financed grants to all Americans attending college for the next nine years as well as payment of annual salaries to 21 million cops.
The conflicts in the two Asian countries claimed the lives of around 5500 US service personnel with more than 4,400 dying in Iraq. In addition to this, servicemen and women wounded in the operations run into tens of thousands.
The U.S. military has so far appropriated $747.3 billion for the Iraq operation and $299 billion for the campaign in Afghanistan. A bill for supplementary grants of $37 billion for both the wars, in addition to $136.8 billion allocated for the current financial year, is now pending with the Congress.
A few areas that would have otherwise benefitted with the funds allocated for these military missions include health care, public safety, energy efficiency and affordable housing, the NPP said in its report.