Your grandkids will still be paying for the U.S. war in Afghanistan

The final price tag for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could exceed $6 trillion—thanks to the power of interest—with American taxpayers still paying the tab when the 50th anniversary of 9/11 arrives.https://t.co/AP6LnD3iBw

— Eric Boehm (@EricBoehm87) August 18, 2021

Reason's Eric Boehm explains why we will still be paying for America's longest war for a very long time.

"We may finally be nearing the end of America's long military misadventure in Afghanistan—but we are a long way from being done paying for it," Boehm writes.

He continues, "The post-9/11 wars begun by President George W. Bush and carried on by three subsequent administrations were largely financed by adding the cost to America's national debt. That means that the official cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—about $2.26 trillion, though the Pentagon's accounting is famously fuzzy—doesn't tell the whole story."

"The costs of these wars continue long after we withdraw, since they are debt-financed and we will be paying interest on that debt for years—even decades—to come,' Heidi Peltier, project director for the Costs of War Project at Boston University, tells Reason. Peltier's research shows that the interest costs of the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had already topped $1 trillion," Boehm notes.

Boehm continues (emphasis added), "By the end of the current decade, interest on the war debt will likely exceed the final official tally of the wars' cost. And the final price tag for those operations could eventually exceed $6 trillion—with American taxpayers still paying the tab when the 50th anniversary of 9/11 arrives."

Read the entire column here.