Update from Afghanistan Study Group Afghanistan Weekly Reader: Pentagon Spends $2 Billion in Afghanistan Per Week While Anti-American Riots Rage

Afghanistan Weekly Reader: Pentagon Spends $2 Billion in Afghanistan Per Week While Anti-American Riots Rage

Will the violent protests in Afghanistan speed up the U.S. withdrawal? It’s the multi-billion dollar question. The administration insists that the answer is no. “Nothing that has happened over the past week is going to deter us...We’re making progress.” Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters on Monday. “The fundamentals of our strategy remain sound,” he added.
Despite increasing calls for an end to the war, the timeline remains the same. There are still 90,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Some will be withdrawn over the summer, leaving 68,000 by the end of September. When those 68,000 will be withdrawn is anyone’s guess - as is the plan for the U.S. presence in Afghanistan after 2014.
The costs are the same too. While anti-American riots continue, the Pentagon is still spending over $2 billion a week in Afghanistan, and still planning to spend $86 billion over he next year.
From ASG
2/28/12
Cutting Veterans’ Benefits To Save The War Budget
Afghanistan Study Group by Mary Kaszynski
The US spends hundreds of billions on operations, security, and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, with little oversight. Meanwhile, in the US, soldiers who fought in Afghanistan struggle to pay their medical bills.
ARTICLES
2/28/12
One soldier, one year: $850,000 and rising
CNN 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.
2/27/12
Gingrich sees impossible task in Afghanistan, takes aim at Santorum
Atlanta Journal by Jeremy Redmon
Newt Gingrich on Monday said the United States is trying to achieve the impossible in Afghanistan amid escalating violence over the burning of Qurans on a U.S. military base.
OPINION
2/29/12
Why We Couldn't Change Afghanistan
The Atlantic by Michael Hart
The future of Afghanistan will be determined by forces that antedate the latest Western effort to direct a turbulent area--and which probably will long survive this and future efforts to dominate the country.
2/29/12
It's time to declare victory in Afghanistan and come home -- before we have to shoot our way out
Fox News by KT McFarland
No matter what our political leaders say, we’re losing ground fast, and nothing short of another ten years of American blood and treasure will change that.
It’s time to declare victory and come home, before we have to shoot our way out.