阿富汗戰爭消耗美國近萬億美元

The Afghanistan war, the longest overseas conflict in American history, has cost the US taxpayer nearly $1tn and will cost several hundred billion dollars more after it officially ends this month, according to Financial Times calculations and independent researchers.

根據英國《金融時報》和獨立研究者的測算，美國史上持續最久的海外衝突阿富汗戰爭已讓美國納稅人付出近1萬億美元的代價，而且在本月正式結束後還將讓美國納稅人付出幾千億美元。

About 80 per cent of the spending on the Afghanistan conflict has taken place during the presidency of Barack Obama, who sharply increased US military presence in the country after taking office in 2009. The enormous bill for the 13-year conflict, which has never been detailed by the government, is an important factor in the broader reluctance among the US public and the Obama administration to intervene militarily in other parts of the world — including sending troops back to Iraq.

阿富汗戰爭的支出有80%發生在巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的總統任期內，他在2009年上臺後大舉增加了美國在阿富汗的軍事存在。這場13年衝突的鉅額賬單（美國政府從未公佈支出細節），是美國公衆和奧巴馬政府普遍不願意在世界其他地方進行軍事幹預（包括將美軍派回伊拉克）的一個重要因素。

John Sopko, the government’s special inspector- general for Afghanistan, whose organisation monitors the more than $100bn spent on reconstruction projects in the country, said that “billions of dollars” had been wasted or stolen on projects that made little sense. “We simply cannot lose this amount of money again,” he said. “The American people will not put up with it.”

奧巴馬政府的阿富汗特別監察長約翰•索普科(John Sopko)表示，已有“數十億美元”被白白浪費在沒什麼意義的項目上，或者被竊取。索普科所在的機構負責對美國在阿富汗逾1000億美元的重建項目進行監察。“我們不能再損失這麼大一筆錢了。”他說，“美國人民將無法容忍這樣的事情。”

Adjusted for inflation, Mr Sopko said the amount the US had spent on reconstruction in Afghanistan was more than the cost of the Marshall Plan to rebuild western Europe.

索普科表示，經通脹調整後，美國在阿富汗重建項目上花掉的錢，已超過當年用於重建西歐的馬歇爾計劃(Marshall Plan)。

Since 2001, the government has appropriated $765bn for the war — most for the defence department — and a further $125bn has been spent servicing interest payments on the money borrowed to finance the war. On top of that there are medical costs, estimated to have reached $134bn for both the Iraq and Afghan wars.

自2001年以來，美國政府已累計爲戰爭撥款7650億美元，主要撥給國防部，還花了1250億美元用於支付戰爭籌款的利息。此外還有醫療成本，預計已達到1340億美元（包括伊拉克和阿富汗兩場戰爭）。