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TheCosts of War Project is a nonpartisan research project based at theWatson Institute for International and Public Affairs atBrown University that seeks to document the direct and indirect human and financial costs ofU.S. wars in Iraq andAfghanistan andrelated counterterrorism efforts. The project is the most extensive and comprehensive public accounting of the cost of post-September 11th U.S. military operations compiled to date.[1][2]
The project involves economists, anthropologists, lawyers, humanitarians, and political scientists.[3] It is directed byCatherine Lutz andStephanie Savell of Brown andNeta Crawford ofBoston University.[4][5]
The Costs of War Project was established in 2010 by professor of anthropology and international studies at Brown University, Catherine Lutz, and Chair of Political Science at Boston University, Neta Crawford.[5]
The project released its first findings in June 2011 and has published continuously since.[6][7][8] It is financially supported by theCarnegie Corporation of New York, Colombe Foundation, andOpen Society Foundations.[9]
Between 2016 and 2018, U.S. PresidentDonald Trump repeatedly cited the expected total costs of the war on terror through 2050 as calculated by the project, though misrepresented the amount as cumulative spending rather than cumulative and potential future spending.[10] On August 31, 2021, the project's figures for the financial cost of theWar in Afghanistan were cited by U.S. PresidentJoe Biden in a speech defending thewithdrawal of U.S. troops from the nation.[11][12]
Costs of War was the 2022 recipient ofThe US Peace Prize "For crucial research to shed light on the human, environmental, economic, social, and political costs of U.S. wars."
Contributors to the project includeSteven Aftergood,Nadje Al-Ali,Andrew Bacevich,Catherine L. Besteman,Linda Bilmes,Cynthia Enloe,Lisa Graves,Hugh Gusterson,William D. Hartung,James Heintz,Dahr Jamail,Jessica Stern, andWinslow T. Wheeler.
In their most recent report, the Costs of War Project estimates that post-9/11 wars participated in by the US have directly killed 905,000 to 940,000, and indirectly 3,600,000 to 3,800,000, making a total of 4,500,000-4,700,000. The Costs of War Project defined post-9/11 war zones as conflicts that included significant United States counter-terrorism operations since 9/11, which in addition to the wars inIraq,Afghanistan andPakistan, also includes the civil wars inSyria,Yemen,Libya andSomalia. They derived their estimate of indirect deaths using a calculation from theGeneva Declaration of Secretariat which estimates that for every person directly killed by war, four more die from the indirect consequences of war. The report's author Stephanie Savell stated that in an ideal scenario, the preferable way of quantifying the total death toll would have been by studying excess mortality, or by using on-the-ground researchers in the affected countries.[13]
In addition, the Costs of War Project estimate that 38,000,000 were displaced in these wars.[14][15] They also estimate that the cost to the US exceeded $8 trillion, including $2.2 trillion reserved for veterans' care through 2050.[1][2]
A 2021 report from the project concluded that since September 11, 2001, four times more U.S. veterans and service members had died by suicide than had been killed in combat.[16][17]
In its scope, the project accounts for factors official estimates often exclude, including interest expenses, medical care for veterans, and spending by departments other than theDepartment of Defense. The study does not include U.S. assistance for operations againstISIS affiliatesin the Philippines, Africa or Europe.[18] In 2018, the project revised its focus to include Africa, accounting for U.S. operations and drone strikes inLibya and theHorn of Africa.[19]
