Analysis
The Aftermath
Wars don't end when the troops come home. For millions of veterans, the war never ends. The fighting stops, but the dying continues — 17 veterans every day, more than 6,000 a year, more than died in 20 years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
17/day
Veteran suicides
500K+
Diagnosed with PTSD
380K+
Traumatic brain injuries
$2.5T
Future care costs
The fighting may stop, but the costs compound for decades. Veteran care for post-9/11 wars alone will cost an estimated $2.5T through 2050. The peak costs of caring for veterans historically come 30-40 years after a conflict ends. We are still paying for Vietnam. We will be paying for Iraq and Afghanistan until 2070 and beyond.
The Suicide Epidemic
17
Veterans per day
6,200+
Per year
124,000+
Since 9/11 (est.)
More veterans have died by suicide since 9/11 than died in 20 years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. That number bears repeating: more veterans killed themselves after coming home than were killed by the enemy.
The VA's own data shows that veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than non-veterans. For women veterans, the rate is 2.2 times higher. For veterans aged 18-34, the rate is devastating. Suicide is the #2 cause of death for post-9/11 veterans.
The causes are complex: PTSD, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, substance abuse, difficulty reintegrating into civilian life, moral injury, relationship breakdown. But the root cause is simple: we sent them to war and didn't take care of them when they came home.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”
— George Washington (attributed)
PTSD: The Invisible Wound
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects an estimated 500,000+ post-9/11 veterans — and that's only those who've been diagnosed. The VA estimates that 29% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans develop PTSD, compared to roughly 10% of Vietnam veterans (though Vietnam-era PTSD was likely vastly underdiagnosed).
PTSD manifests as hypervigilance, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional numbness, difficulty maintaining relationships, explosive anger, and avoidance of anything that triggers memories. Veterans describe being unable to sit in restaurants with their backs to the door. Flinching at fireworks. Unable to sleep without the lights on. Checking the perimeter of their suburban homes.
The VA treats roughly 700,000 PTSD patients annually. Wait times for mental health appointments average 36 days for new patients — and that's the official number. Many veterans report waiting months. Many others never seek treatment at all, either because of stigma, distrust of the system, or because they don't recognize their symptoms.
“I can't turn it off. I'm still there. Every car backfire is an IED. Every crowd is an ambush. I came home three years ago but my brain never left Fallujah.”
— Anonymous Iraq War veteran, 2023 VA survey
Traumatic Brain Injury: The Signature Wound
TBI has been called the “signature wound” of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Defense Department reports 380,000+ TBI diagnoses since 2000 — more than any previous conflict. The prevalence is driven by IEDs (improvised explosive devices), which became the primary weapon against US forces.
The blast wave from an IED can cause brain damage even without visible injury. Many service members experienced multiple blast exposures. The cumulative effect is devastating: chronic headaches, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, personality changes, depression, and increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases later in life, including early-onset dementia and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
When Iran fired ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq in January 2020 — in retaliation for the Soleimani assassination — over 100 service members suffered TBI. President Trump initially dismissed the injuries as “headaches.” Many of those service members continue to suffer debilitating symptoms years later.
The VA Healthcare System: Overwhelmed and Underfunded
9.1M
Veterans enrolled
$325B
Annual budget
1.8M
Disability claims (post-9/11)
The VA is the largest healthcare system in the United States, serving over 9 million veterans. It operates 1,298 healthcare facilities, including 171 medical centers. Its annual budget has grown from $73 billion in 2009 to over $325 billion today — and it's still not enough.
In 2014, the VA waitlist scandal revealed that veterans were dying while waiting for appointments. At the Phoenix VA alone, at least 40 veterans died while on a secret waitlist. Investigations found that VA facilities across the country were falsifying data to hide wait times that stretched months or longer.
Congress responded with the VA Mission Act, allowing veterans to seek private care. But the fundamental problem remains: we keep creating new veterans faster than we can care for the existing ones. Each new conflict adds decades of future obligations.
Veteran Homelessness
On any given night in America, approximately 37,000 veterans are homeless. They make up roughly 8% of all homeless adults, despite comprising only 6% of the population. Post-9/11 veterans are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless veteran population.
The pathway from combat to homelessness is tragically predictable: PTSD and TBI make employment difficult. Substance abuse develops as self-medication. Relationships break down. The VA system is overwhelmed. Mental health services are inadequate. A veteran who was willing to die for their country ends up sleeping under a bridge because their country wasn't willing to care for them.
“The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
— General Douglas MacArthur
Substance Abuse and Family Breakdown
An estimated 1 in 10 post-9/11 veterans struggle with substance use disorder. Alcohol abuse rates are significantly higher among combat veterans. Opioid prescriptions for chronic pain — often from combat injuries — have contributed to addiction. Between 2001 and 2009, opioid prescriptions from VA physicians quadrupled.
The toll on families is devastating. Divorce rates among post-9/11 veterans are significantly higher than the national average. Domestic violence rates are 2-3 times higher in military families than civilian families. Children of deployed parents show higher rates of anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. The war comes home in ways that shatter households.
Moral Injury: The Wound That Doesn't Heal
Beyond PTSD, researchers now recognize “moral injury” — the deep psychological damage from participating in, witnessing, or failing to prevent acts that violate one's moral beliefs. Unlike PTSD, which is a fear-based response, moral injury is a shame-based response. It's not “I'm afraid this will happen again” — it's “I did something unforgivable.”
Drone operators who kill from 7,000 miles away, then drive home to have dinner with their families. Soldiers who discover the “enemy combatant” they killed was a child. Marines who followed orders they knew were wrong. Medics who couldn't save their friends. Veterans who came home to realize the war they fought was based on lies.
Moral injury doesn't respond well to traditional PTSD treatment. It's not a clinical disorder — it's an existential crisis. The veteran knows what they did. No amount of therapy can make them un-know it. Many veterans describe moral injury as worse than the physical wounds of combat.
“I can deal with being shot at. I can deal with the nightmares. What I can't deal with is knowing that we destroyed a country for no reason, and I helped do it. That's what keeps me up at night. Not the fear — the guilt.”
— Iraq War veteran, 2022 interview, Costs of War Project
Burn Pits: Poisoned by Your Own Military
For over a decade, the US military disposed of waste in open-air “burn pits” at bases across Iraq and Afghanistan. Everything went in: plastics, batteries, medical waste, human waste, chemicals, ammunition, paint, pesticides. An estimated 3.5 million service members were exposed to toxic fumes from these pits.
The health consequences have been catastrophic: rare cancers, respiratory diseases, constrictive bronchiolitis, neurological symptoms, and autoimmune disorders. Veterans report chronic breathing problems, tumors, and cancers that appeared years after deployment. Many were in their 20s and 30s when diagnosed with cancers typically seen in the elderly.
For years, the VA denied that burn pit exposure caused these conditions. Veterans filed claims and were rejected. They appealed and were rejected again. The military that poisoned them refused to acknowledge it.
The PACT Act of 2022 finally expanded VA healthcare eligibility for burn pit exposure, covering 23 conditions presumed to be related. It was the largest expansion of veteran healthcare in decades. But it came after thousands had already died — and after comedian Jon Stewart publicly shamed Congress into acting.
“I'm sick of having to explain to you the suffering our veterans endure because the powerful refuse to treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve. If this is the best America can do for its veterans, this ain't the America I believe in.”
— Jon Stewart, testimony before Congress on burn pit legislation, 2022
The Long Tail of Contamination
Agent Orange — 50+ Years Later
Between 1962 and 1971, the US military sprayed 20 million gallons of Agent Orange across Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The herbicide contained dioxin — one of the most toxic substances known. Over 2.8 million US troops served in Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands developed cancers, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and heart disease. Their children and grandchildren suffer elevated rates of birth defects three generations later. In Vietnam, an estimated 3 million people continue to suffer from Agent Orange exposure, including 150,000 children born with birth defects.
Gulf War Syndrome
Up to 250,000 of the 700,000 US troops deployed in the 1991 Gulf War developed a cluster of unexplained symptoms: chronic fatigue, joint pain, cognitive problems, gastrointestinal issues. For decades, the VA dismissed “Gulf War Illness” as psychosomatic. A 2008 federal report finally confirmed it was real, likely caused by exposure to pesticides and anti-nerve-agent pills troops were ordered to take. Thirty-five years later, many are still sick.
Camp Lejeune Water Contamination
From the 1950s through the 1980s, up to 1 million Marines and family members at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina were exposed to drinking water contaminated with industrial solvents, benzene, and other toxic chemicals — at levels 240 to 3,400 times above safe limits. The contamination caused cancers, birth defects, and neurological damage. The Marine Corps knew about the contamination for years before acting. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 finally allowed victims to file claims — four decades after the exposure.
Broken Promises: What They Said vs. What Happened
Every war begins with promises. Every aftermath reveals them as lies:
"The war will pay for itself through Iraqi oil revenues."
— Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, 2003
Reality: Cost: $2.4 trillion. Iraqi oil revenue covered a tiny fraction. American taxpayers paid for everything.
"We will be greeted as liberators."
— Vice President Dick Cheney, 2003
Reality: Insurgency within months. Civil war by 2006. 300,000+ Iraqi civilians killed.
"Weeks, not months."
— Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on the Iraq War timeline
Reality: 20+ years. US troops still in Iraq in 2025.
"Mission Accomplished."
— Banner on USS Abraham Lincoln, May 2003
Reality: 4,431 of the 4,599 US deaths in Iraq occurred after the "Mission Accomplished" declaration.
"We will rebuild Afghanistan into a stable democracy."
— Multiple administrations, 2001-2021
Reality: Taliban returned to power in 11 days. Girls banned from school. Humanitarian crisis.
"The Afghan security forces are capable of defending their country."
— Pentagon assessments through 2021
Reality: 300,000 troops (on paper) collapsed in 11 days. $83B in equipment abandoned.
"We're turning the corner in Afghanistan."
— Said by officials in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
Reality: The Afghanistan Papers revealed officials knew they were losing throughout.
Political Instability: War Exports Chaos
The aftermath of war doesn't stay in the war zone. It radiates outward, destabilizing entire regions and reshaping the politics of distant countries:
The Syrian Refugee Crisis → European Far-Right
The US-involved Syrian conflict produced 6.8 million refugees. Millions fled to Europe, triggering the 2015 migration crisis. This fueled the rise of far-right, anti-immigrant parties across Europe: Brexit in the UK. Le Pen in France. AfD in Germany. Orbán in Hungary. The Meloni government in Italy. The political map of Europe was redrawn by the aftermath of a war in which the US armed rebels, bombed ISIS, and refused to accept significant numbers of the resulting refugees.
Libyan Weapons → Sahel Insurgencies
After the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, Gaddafi's massive weapons stockpiles — including anti-aircraft missiles, RPGs, and heavy weapons — flooded across the Sahel. These weapons fueled insurgencies in Mali (2012 coup), Niger, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria (Boko Haram). France deployed troops. The US deployed special operations forces. An entirely new theater of the War on Terror was created by the aftermath of the previous intervention.
Iraq → Iran's Regional Dominance
The invasion of Iraq removed Iran's primary regional enemy (Saddam) and installed a Shia-majority government aligned with Tehran. Iran now exerts enormous influence over Iraq's government, military, and economy — through militias, political parties, and economic ties. The US spent $2.4 trillion and over 4,500 American lives to hand Iraq to the very country it was supposedly containing.
The Pattern: Expose, Deny, Delay, Concede
The government's response to veteran health crises follows a depressingly consistent pattern:
- Expose: Service members are exposed to toxic substances during their service
- Deny: When veterans get sick, the government denies any connection to their service
- Delay: For years or decades, veterans fight for recognition and treatment while dying
- Concede: Eventually, after enough veterans have died and enough public pressure builds, the government acknowledges responsibility — and the cycle begins again with the next generation
Agent Orange: 40 years from exposure to full recognition. Gulf War Syndrome: 17 years. Burn pits: 20 years. Camp Lejeune: 40 years. The pattern never changes because the incentive structure never changes. Acknowledging harm means paying for it. So the government delays until enough veterans have died that the cost is reduced.
Reconstruction: Breaking It Is Cheaper Than Fixing It
The cost of destroying a country is always dwarfed by the cost of rebuilding it — and the US has a dismal track record of following through on reconstruction promises:
Much of Iraq's infrastructure still worse than pre-invasion. ISIS destroyed what was rebuilt. Electricity still inconsistent in much of the country. 2.8M remain internally displaced.
SIGAR documented systematic waste. Taliban inherited or destroyed most infrastructure. Girls banned from school again. Country now in humanitarian crisis.
No reconstruction plan. Failed state. Two rival governments. Open-air slave markets. Weapons flowed across the Sahel. Obama called it his "worst mistake."
Agent Orange still killing 50 years later. 3 million Vietnamese affected. US has spent ~$400M on cleanup — for $1 trillion in destruction.
“You break it, you own it.”— Secretary of State Colin Powell to President Bush before the Iraq invasion (the “Pottery Barn rule”). America broke it. Then walked away.
Refugee Crises: The People Who Have to Leave
The War on Terror has displaced an estimated 38 million people — more than any conflict since World War II. These are people who lost homes, livelihoods, communities, and futures:
Syria: 13 million
~60% of population
Half fled the country entirely. Largest refugee crisis in 21st century. Triggered European migration crisis → far-right politics.
Iraq: 9.2 million
~23% of population
Multiple waves: 2003 invasion, 2006 civil war, 2014 ISIS, 2016 Mosul battle. 2.8M still internally displaced.
Afghanistan: 5.9 million
~15% of population
Decades of displacement. 2021 Taliban takeover triggered new wave. Many interpreters/allies stranded.
Yemen: 4.4 million
~14% of population
US-backed Saudi bombing campaign. "World's worst humanitarian crisis" per UN.
Somalia: 4.2 million
~25% of population
30+ years of instability. Climate change + conflict. Many in refugee camps for decades.
Pakistan: 3.7 million
Tribal areas devastated
Military operations in FATA. Drone strikes. Millions displaced from ancestral lands.
These millions of displaced people don't appear in casualty counts. They survived — but lost everything. Many live in refugee camps with no prospect of returning home, no legal status, no education for their children, and no path forward. They are the invisible cost of war — unseen because they are still alive, uncounted because they are not dead.
Environmental Devastation: Wars That Poison the Land
War doesn't just kill people — it poisons the environment for generations:
Depleted Uranium (Iraq, Balkans)
The US fired 300+ tons of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq in 1991 and 2003. DU remains radioactive for 4.5 billion years. Cancer and birth defect rates in Fallujah, Basra, and other heavily bombarded areas exceed those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. The contamination is permanent.
Agent Orange (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
20 million gallons sprayed. 3 million Vietnamese affected. 150,000+ children born with birth defects. Dioxin persists in soil and water supply 50+ years later. Cleanup began in 2012 — 41 years after spraying ended.
Unexploded Ordnance (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq)
Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. The US dropped2 million tons of bombs from 1964-1973 — more than was dropped on Germany and Japan in WWII combined. Up to 30% failed to detonate. An estimated 80 million cluster bomblets remain in Laos. They continue to kill approximately 50 people per year — 52 years after the bombing ended. Many victims are children who mistake the bomblets for toys.
Kuwait Oil Fires (1991)
Iraqi forces set fire to over 600 oil wells during the Gulf War. The fires burned for 10 months, releasing massive quantities of toxic smoke, soot, and pollutants. The environmental damage affected air quality across the region. Veterans exposed to the smoke report chronic respiratory problems decades later.
The Pentagon's Carbon Footprint
The US military is the single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels on Earth. If the DOD were a country, it would be the 47th largest carbon emitter in the world — more than 140 individual nations. Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan burned through billions of gallons of jet fuel.
Generational Trauma: The Wound That Passes Down
War trauma doesn't end with the individual. It passes through generations — through behavior, through biology, and through the destruction of social structures:
Children of Veterans
Children of veterans with PTSD show higher rates of anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and secondary traumatization. Studies of Vietnam veterans' children found elevated rates of psychological distress lasting decades. Post-9/11 veterans' children show similar patterns. The war comes home through the parent who can't sleep, who erupts in anger, who self-medicates.
Epigenetic Transmission
Emerging research suggests trauma can be transmitted epigenetically — through changes in gene expression that pass from parent to child. Studies of Holocaust survivors' children found altered cortisol levels. Research on Agent Orange-exposed veterans found elevated rates of birth defects and health problems in their children and grandchildren — even those conceived after exposure.
War Zone Children
An estimated 14 million children in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan have been directly affected by conflict — displaced from homes, separated from parents, exposed to violence, denied education. Many show symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression. This is a lost generation whose psychological scars will shape the politics and stability of the region for decades.
Failed States: What America Leaves Behind
The aftermath of US military intervention consistently produces failed or failing states:
Libya (2011→)
Two rival governments. Militias control territory. Open-air slave markets. Arms trafficking hub. Ranked among world's most fragile states.
Iraq (2003→)
Sectarian government. Iranian influence dominant. ISIS devastated the north. Corruption endemic. Millions displaced. Infrastructure still damaged.
Afghanistan (2001→2021)
Taliban returned to power. Girls banned from school. Economic collapse. Humanitarian crisis. $83B in US equipment abandoned.
Somalia (1992→)
Al-Shabaab controls large areas. Famine recurring. No effective central government for 30+ years. Ranked #1 on Failed States Index.
Yemen (2015→)
"World's worst humanitarian crisis." 150,000+ dead. 4.4M displaced. Cholera outbreaks. Famine. US-backed Saudi bombing continues.
The pattern: the US intervenes, removes a regime, provides no viable alternative, and leaves behind a power vacuum that is filled by extremists, warlords, or rival governments. The failed state then becomes a new “threat” that justifies continued intervention. It is a self-perpetuating cycle of destruction that has never, in any case, produced the stable democratic outcome promised.
Economic Destruction: Decades of Lost Development
War doesn't just destroy buildings — it destroys economies for generations:
-40%
Average GDP decline during major conflict
World Bank
20 years
Average time to return to pre-war GDP
IMF analysis
80%
Of Iraq's industrial infrastructure destroyed by 2006
UNDP
$400B
Syria's GDP loss (2011-2023)
World Bank
Iraq's GDP per capita was $3,600 in 2002 (pre-invasion). By 2007, it had fallen to $1,900. It didn't recover to pre-invasion levels until 2013 — a decade lost. Syria's economy contracted by 60% during the civil war. Afghanistan's GDP collapsed after the Taliban takeover. These aren't abstract numbers — they represent closed businesses, lost livelihoods, children who couldn't afford school, and families who couldn't afford food.
The Libertarian Case: Count the Full Cost Before You Start
War is the single most destructive thing a government can do — to its own citizens, to foreign populations, to economies, to the environment, and to the constitutional order itself. The aftermath proves this in every case:
“When you go to war, you don't just pay the cost of the bombs. You pay the cost for 50 years of veteran care, 50 years of debt interest, and 50 years of blowback. The politicians who start wars will be long gone. The bill is paid by people who weren't born yet.”— Ron Paul
Libertarians argue that war should be an absolute last resort — defensive only — because the full cost can never be accurately predicted, always exceeds estimates, and falls on people who had no say in the decision. The $8 trillion War on Terror was launched with estimates of $50-200 billion. The Iraq War was promised to “pay for itself” through oil revenue. Every cost estimate was wrong by orders of magnitude.
If the full cost of war — including 50 years of veteran care, interest on war debt, reconstruction, blowback, and the economic destruction inflicted on target countries — were calculated and presented to the public before the first bomb dropped, democratic support for most wars would evaporate. That's precisely why it's never done.
Sources & Further Reading
• Costs of War Project, Watson Institute — Veteran care costs, displacement data, long-term cost projections.
• VA National Suicide Prevention Annual Report — Published annually with veteran suicide data.
• SIGAR — Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Quarterly and final reports.
• World Bank — Country-level economic impact assessments for conflict-affected nations.
• UNHCR — Global displacement data and refugee statistics.
• Stiglitz, Joseph & Bilmes, Linda — The Three Trillion Dollar War (2008). Long-term cost analysis.
• Legacies of War — UXO data for Laos. legaciesofwar.org
• ATSDR — Toxic exposure data for military bases and conflict zones.
• Ron Paul — Swords into Plowshares (2015). The full cost of war from a libertarian perspective.
💡 Did You Know?
- • More veterans have died by suicide since 9/11 (~124,000) than were killed in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, and all other post-9/11 operations combined (~7,075).
- • The peak cost of caring for veterans historically comes 30-40 years after a conflict. VA spending on WWI veterans peaked in 1969. WWII veterans peaked in 1986. Vietnam is peaking now.
- • 3.5 million service members were exposed to burn pit toxins. The military knew the pits were toxic and used them anyway because they were cheap and convenient.
- • Agent Orange continues to cause birth defects in Vietnamese children — three generations after the spraying ended.
- • The VA's disability claims backlog regularly exceeds 200,000+ claims waiting more than 125 days for a decision.
- • Women veterans die by suicide at 2.2 times the rate of civilian women — and are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population.
- • An estimated 37,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. The nation that asks them to die for it can't house them.
- • Jon Stewart's viral testimony before Congress in 2022 is widely credited with shaming legislators into passing the PACT Act for burn pit victims.
The Debt Burden: Wars Paid For With Borrowed Money
Unlike World War II — which was partly funded through war bonds, tax increases, and rationing — the post-9/11 wars have been funded entirely through borrowing. The Bush administration cut taxes while launching two wars — the first time in American history a president reduced taxes during wartime.
$1.1T+
Interest paid on war borrowing to date
Costs of War Project
$6.5T
Projected interest payments through 2050
Watson Institute
~$0
War taxes imposed on current generation
All costs pushed to future taxpayers
The interest on war borrowing alone — $1.1 trillion already, $6.5 trillion projected — will eventually exceed the direct cost of the wars themselves. Future generations will be paying interest on wars that were fought before they were born, for objectives that were never achieved, based on intelligence that was wrong.
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world.”— Thomas Jefferson, 1820
The 50-Year Tail: Why War Costs Keep Growing
The long-term cost pattern of veteran care follows a predictable but devastating timeline:
World War I (1917-1918)
VA costs peaked in 1969 — 51 years later
Last WWI veteran died in 2011, age 110
World War II (1941-1945)
VA costs peaked in 1986 — 41 years later
WWII veterans still receiving VA care into the 2020s
Korean War (1950-1953)
Costs peaked ~1995
Korean War veterans average age: 88
Vietnam War (1955-1975)
VA costs peaking NOW
Agent Orange claims still growing. 6 million Vietnam-era vets still alive
Gulf War (1990-1991)
Gulf War Illness costs still rising
250,000 affected. Recognition delayed decades.
War on Terror (2001-present)
Peak costs projected: 2050s-2060s
Youngest veterans won't reach peak care needs for 30+ years
The pattern is clear and inescapable: the peak cost of caring for veterans comes 30-50 years after a war ends. War on Terror veterans are currently in their 20s through 50s. Their healthcare needs — PTSD treatment, TBI management, prosthetics, chronic pain, cancer screening for burn pit exposure — will increase as they age. The true cost of Iraq and Afghanistan won't be known until the 2060s. America won't stop paying for these wars until the last veteran dies, likely around 2090.
Lessons Never Learned: The Same Mistakes, Every Time
The British Empire learned in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union learned in Afghanistan. The US refused to learn:
Britain: 3 Afghan Wars (1839, 1878, 1919)
Britain invaded Afghanistan three times, losing each time. The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842) resulted in the destruction of an entire British army — 16,500 soldiers and camp followers. One survivor reached Jalalabad. Britain eventually concluded that Afghanistan could not be conquered. America did not read the memo.
Soviet Union: Afghanistan (1979-1989)
The Soviet Union spent 10 years in Afghanistan, lost 15,000 soldiers, killed approximately 1.5 million Afghans, and withdrew in defeat. The experience contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union itself. American officials who witnessed the Soviet debacle then repeated it — with a 20-year war that produced the same result: withdrawal, Taliban victory, nothing accomplished.
France: Indochina → America: Vietnam
France fought and lost in Indochina (1946-1954). The decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu led to French withdrawal. America immediately stepped in, eventually committing 536,000 troops and losing 58,220 Americans in a war that ended in the same result: communist victory. The US learned nothing from France's experience.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”— George Santayana
The Real Cost of War
When politicians debate the cost of war, they talk about appropriations bills and defense budgets. They rarely talk about the 40-year tail of veteran care. They never talk about the marriages that end, the children who grow up without a functioning parent, the communities that lose their best and brightest to suicide and addiction.
The $2.5T in projected veteran care costs through 2050 is a number. Behind that number are millions of individual human tragedies — each one preventable, if we had chosen not to send them to war, or if we had taken care of them when they came home.
We did neither.
“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.”
— José Narosky