The war that destroyed America: Afghanistan’s coming bill

Abstract

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly twenty years, with arguably no discernible end in sight. Yet there has been no public accounting of the costs of the on-going conflict, either for Afghanistan or America. While the war’s destruction is readily visible throughout much of the Afghan countryside, it is no less profoundly damaging to the social and political fabric of the United States. As the costs for this conflict come due, the U.S. will be faced with a bill it may be ill-equipped to pay–not only financially, but socially and politically as well. Indeed, Afghanistan may be the war that ultimately destroys American democracy as we know it.