Afghan war cost 8 trillion dollars over the period of nearly 20 years.
Ukrainian aid package is two billion dollars since the start of the Biden administration (Whitehouse website)
BBC radio 4 World Tonight 18th April 14 minutes into it (14:38)
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko commented in the lines of ‘80 billion dollars for Afghan military, 800 million dollars in the last package is one hundredth of that 80 billion.’
I would say every war is a human tragedy and misery. No one should make such comparison. But let’s entertain his line of argument and play along with it to show how terrible it is.
Firstly, Afghanistan suffered for nearly two decades; Ukraine one and half months, if you include years after 2014, it is 8 years.
First year, 2001, when the US forces invaded Afghanistan, there was very little in aid: USD 10 million.
Ukraine received USD 2 billion, since the beginning of the Biden administration (Jan 2021, now Apr. 2022, about a year ago.)
Also, Ukraine received USD 1.5 billion in 2014.
For now we focus on the period after the Russian invasion since that is a full scale military invasion.
Afghan war was from Oct 2001 to Aug. 2021; 19 years and 11 months (19x12 +11=239 months)
Russian full scale invasion in Ukraine 24th Feb to now 18th Apr. About 1.7 months (51 days)
80 billion / 239 = 0.335 billion = 335 million per month in Afghanistan (monthly mean over the period of war)
2.6 billion since the invasion on 24th Feb / 1.7 months = 1.53 billion per month in Ukraine (monthly mean over the period of war)
Ukraine receives FIVE times more military aid than Afghanistan did on the monthly average.
*In reality, the military specific funds from the US are following.
Afghan Security Force Fund = 71.7 billion dollars (today’s value)
Train and Equip Fund 440 million dollars
In total about $72 billion over the 20 year war period.
https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2021/20-years-us-military-aid-afghanistan
The US aids in the first three years in the Afghan war were 10, 30, and 400 million.
Ukraine has received 2.6 billion since 24th Feb 2022 from the US and the latest package increases it to 2.8 billion in military aids. (Whitehouse website)
Further more until 2006 the military aids did not reach 2 billion mark in a single year in Afghanistan.
Ukrainian war refugees have received warm welcome in various countries while Afghan refugees were discriminated and pushed away. At this very moment the Afghan asylum seekers are indeed pushed aside in the UK so that they can process Ukrainian asylum applications.
As mentioned, every war is a tragedy and entailed by human misery especially for ordinary people. That is precisely my point.
The sooner the better for this war to end, because of economic sanctions, which Ukrainian politicians call for, there are families affected by the price hike. There are parents who can no longer provide meals to their children because of the price hike directly caused by the economic sanctions. Do they own that? When they say countries buying Russian fossil fuel have blood on their hands, do they own the far reaching ramifications themselves? It is on them, based on their line of argument.
If they laid down their arms, ordinary Ukrainians didn’t have to die. Perhaps when the US offered a lift to Zelensky, that may have been the moment. They couldn’t have thought about ordinary people who are not at all involved in politics, millions of them. It may sound glorious as a politician when they rally around calling for sacrifice. Do they think about what that means to ordinary people?
Politicians look wider and beyond boarders. From that broader view, they may have their rationale if they have decided that whatever it may be what they value is more important. But comparing a war to another war and asking for more money because the other one got more (which was wrong) surely does not come across he has one.
Why do you allow this kind of comparison made by a Ukrainian MP? Is it because he is a European White?
Why didn’t Julian Worricker say anything ? His claim was morally and numerically wrong.
This is no way justifying Russian military invasion. I will get to you in a minute.
All and any wars are tragedy and human misery.
