Sunday, June 20, 2010

Iraq, Afghanistan wars cost UK £20bn


Britons have paid more than £20 billion for fighting and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan since April 2001, government figures have revealed.

The recently released figures -- which indicate that at least £9.24bn was spent on Iraq and £11.1bn on Afghanistan -- do not include troop salaries or care for those wounded.

There are currently ten-thousand British troops stationed in Afghanistan, meaning the total cost will continue to rise, the BBC reported.

"Simply maintaining thousands of people in such a location takes a lot of money on logistics before you have even started," Professor Malcolm Chalmers, a defense analyst for the Royal United Services Institute asserted.

People have begun questioning the government's credibility as it plans to cut more than £6bn in public spending, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the public sector, but refuses to make any cuts to defense spending.

"It is a disgrace that the coalition government plans to target low-paid public sector workers and those receiving welfare benefits in its emergency budget," said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union.

Chancellor George Osborne will announce the government's emergency budget on Tuesday, June 22. Protests are expected outside of Downing Street calling for British troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan during the announcement.

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