The average cost (from 2008 to 2013) to deploy a soldier in Afghanistan was $1.3 million per year, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. So a reasonable estimate for 25,000 troops to enforce a safe zone for a year is $32.5 billion.
Kate Blakeley, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Studies, states in a Jan. 24 report that “reaching anything near that level of spending would require broad political consensus” that has been lacking in Congress for years and points out that the “average relief” provided by lawmakers since the BCA began is only $18 billion.
That's where “the rubber meets the road,” said [Katherine] Blakeley, research fellow at Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “The Budget Control Act of 2011 is still the law, and it needs to be amended by the regular legislative process, which means you need at least some democratic buy-in.”
“The combat system testing is a significant concern, since so much of it is new,” said Bryan Clark, a retired Navy commander now with the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments.
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