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TWENTY-five years after the Sept 11 attacks, the US-led wars that followed have left millions dead and displaced tens of millions, while saddling Washington with a bill of at least US$8 trillion.
According to estimates by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, wars led by the United States since 2001 have directly or indirectly caused between 4.5 million and 4.7 million deaths.
Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that the toll includes about 940,000 direct deaths and an estimated 3.6 million to 3.8 million indirect deaths caused by disease, malnutrition and other health complications.
More than 38 million people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria have also been displaced by post-9/11 wars, either fleeing abroad or becoming internally displaced, according to Al Jazeera.
Less than a month after the attacks, the US invaded Afghanistan in what then-President George W Bush described as a “war on terror”, beginning a series of military campaigns that would span Afghanistan, Iraq and several countries across West Asia, South Asia and Africa.
On Oct 7, 2001, the US launched its military operation in Afghanistan. The Taliban government fell within weeks, but the war continued for almost 20 years across four US presidential administrations, becoming the longest war in American history.
On March 19, 2003, the US invaded Iraq. The war killed 3,481 US service members and left more than 31,000 others wounded.
Beyond ground wars, the US also conducted largely undeclared air and drone campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan, as well as operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The consequences of the conflicts continue to drive displacement more than two decades later.
Last year, about 2.9 million Afghans were deported or returned from Iran and Pakistan, while more than one million Iraqis remained internally displaced.
The financial cost has also been enormous.
The US spent about US$5.8 trillion (RM23.6 trillion) on the wars over two decades, with another US$2.2 trillion (RM8.9 trillion) projected for veterans’ care over coming decades, putting the overall cost at at least US$8 trillion (RM32.5 trillion).
By 2030, the US is projected to pay an equivalent amount in interest on its debt as it spent on the wars, with the resulting debt burden also falling on younger generations.
Public opinion in the United States has meanwhile shifted away from support for aggressive overseas military interventions, while the current war involving Iran has also failed to attract strong public backing. - September 13, 2026
