If the United States wants to extricate itself from Afghanistan, it needs to figure out a way for Afghans to pay for their own government.

 

Right now Kabul is not even remotely close to covering the cost of running the country.

 

The U.S. and its allies paid for 90% of Afghanistan’s public expenditures from 2006 to 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office. American taxpayers picked up 62% of the total, and 90% of all military expenditures.

 

During this time period, Afghanistan’s budget increased 160%, from $5.5 billion to $14.3 billion. But its revenues rose only 30%, from $620 million to $1.66 billion.

 

Over the last 10 years the U.S. has allocated more than $72 billion to military and civilian operations in Afghanistan. For fiscal year 2012, President Barack Obama has requested $18 billion “to secure, stabilize, and rebuild Afghanistan.” That’s about the same amount that the federal government distributes each year to the state of West Virginia and more than it spends on 13 other states.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Afghanistan’s Donor Dependence (Government Accountability Office) (pdf)

Federal Government Finances and Employment (U.S. Census Bureau) (table 477) (pdf)

U.S. Aid Money Funding Afghan Insurgents (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

U.S. Pays $176 Million to Build Road in Afghanistan (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)