For the Afghanistan war, about a trillion, we could have gotten an entire national high speed rail system linking every major metropolitan area in America. To get up to the cost of all post-9-11 wars is actually much harder. You could cut all income taxes for the past 18 years for everyone who makes under 40,000 a year and that still left me with 100 billion a year to spend for 18 years.
This year will mark the 18th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, the forever war characterized by regime change, a surge, drawdowns, and then re-engagement across three Presidential administrations. We take a retrospective of the entire war, from the forgotten events of the lead-up to its total financial and moral costs to date. Journalist Douglas Wissing and Professor Neta Crawford of the Cost of War project take us through the staggering amounts of money spent on prosecuting the war and the development of Afghanistan, and we investigate where the money went. Veterans who served at each stage of the conflict, from the Gen Xers of the early days to the millennials of the Obama surge, give us the changing, and unchanging picture of the unending war. Finally, philosopher Seth Lazar and Barry talk about sunk costs and the role that thinking about past sacrifices play in rationalizing the indefinite continuation of war.
Special thanks the veterans who gave their stories for this episode, Ian Fishback, Joshua Maxwell, Gaven Eier, Pat DeYoung, and Romario Ortiz.
In the bonus content for SlatePlus members, Neta Crawford talks about the opportunity costs of the wars that can't be calculated, and Barry talks with Doug Wissing about the opium economy of Afghanistan. Get all bonus content and an ad-free version of this and every other Slate podcast at slate.com/hiphiplus.
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