U.S. Wars Cost $11.6 Billion a Month in Current Fiscal Year

The average monthly U.S. cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq this fiscal year, as of July 30, is $11.6 billion, according to the Pentagon Comptroller’s office.

That’s up from an average of $9.7 billion a month as of April 30.

The spending total includes war-related operations, transportation, special combat pay and benefits, food, medical services, maintenance, replacement of lost combat equipment and building the Iraq and Afghanistan security forces.

As of July 30, the latest figures available, monthly Afghanistan spending has increased to $7.8 billion from $6.2 billion as of April 30; Iraq spending has increased slightly to $3.8 billion from $3.5 billion, according to the figures.

The U.S. has about 46,000 troops in Iraq and 98,000 in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan increase has been driven primarily by more expensive base and facilities support, greater command, control and intelligence equipment, and maintenance and base support of fortified MRAP vehicles, according to Pentagon briefing charts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Terry Atlas at tatlas@bloomberg.net