America's $3.7 trillion wars: By the numbers

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates addresses troops stationed in Afghanistan: The final costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars could reach $4.4 trillion.

(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

When President Obama announced that he would withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by mid-2012, he cited the cost of the war as a factor in his decision. Rightly so: By the time the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end, it's estimated they will have cost the U.S. trillions and trillions of dollars, according to "Costs of War," a research project conducted by Brown University. That's enough to cover California's total spending — estimated at $86 billion this year — for at least the next four decades. How does that money break down, and where is it going?

$3.7 trillion