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White House National Security Advisor: U.S. spent more than $1 trillion in Afghanistan

The Costs of War Project estimates that the U.S. government spent a total of $2.26 trillion in Afghanistan, including interest on the amount it borrowed to fund the war

Published: August 17, 2021 2:28pm

Updated: August 17, 2021 3:56pm

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that the U.S. government spent more than $1 trillion on the war in Afghanistan.

The Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates that the U.S. government spent a total of $2.26 trillion in Afghanistan, including $530 billion of interest on the amount it borrowed to fund the war.

Sullivan also said the Biden Administration was "clear-eyed" heading into the withdraw that the Taliban could take over Afghanistan. Kabul has fallen to the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

“We were clear-eyed going in when we made this decision that it was possible that the Taliban would end up in control of Afghanistan," Sullivan said.

Sullivan's statement runs contrary to President Biden's assessment of the possibility of a Taliban takeover in July.

"The jury is still out but the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said on July 8.

Sullivan told reporters that Biden hasn't spoken to any world leaders since Kabul fell to the Taliban.

 

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