The United States spent more than $8 trillion on this two-decade war, paying with the lives of thousands of soldiers, as Washington launched an endless wars series that spread across three continents. A special investigative report on 9/11.
WASHINGTON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 11th Sep, 2026) More than 4.5 million people paid the price of 9/11 with their lives, while the United States spent an estimated $5.8 trillion on the two-decade war and allocated another $2.2 trillion for veterans’ care in the coming decades, taking the total cost to at least $8 trillion.
The US war on terror cost the global economy hundreds of trillions of Dollars.
Twenty-five years have passed since 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four aircraft on September 11, 2001, and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing approximately 3,000 people.
The attacks led to a US-led series of wars that reshaped American foreign policy.
According to Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project, US forces have bombed a country somewhere in the world every year since 2001, devastating the lives of millions.
Less than a month after 9/11, the United States invaded Afghanistan, and President George W.
Bush launched the “War on Terror.” It became a seemingly endless series of wars and military campaigns extending across Afghanistan, Iraq, the middle East, South Asia and Africa.
The Costs of War project estimates that 4.5 million to 4.7 million people have been killed directly or indirectly in US-led wars since 2001.
This includes approximately 940,000 direct deaths and 3.6 million to 3.8 million indirect deaths caused by disease, malnutrition and health complications.
On October 7, 2001, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
The Taliban government fell within weeks, but the war continued through the terms of four US presidents and lasted nearly 20 years. According to the Costs of War project, approximately 176,000 people were killed directly in the conflict, while hunger and disease claimed the lives of millions more.
Before the war, 62 percent of people in Afghanistan faced food insecurity; after the war, the figure rose to 92 percent.
Following the US withdrawal in 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.
Less than two years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the United States invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003. More than 300,000 people were killed directly as a result of the war in Iraq.
Alongside ground wars, the United States carried out extensive undeclared air and drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan, as well as against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
According to data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the United States carried out 423 attacks in Pakistan since 2004, killing an estimated 2,499 to 4,001 people, including 424 to 966 civilians.
In Yemen, at least 186 attacks killed at least 853 people, including 158 civilians. In Somalia, 19 to 23 attacks between 2001 and 2016 killed 188 to 276 people.
In the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014, government officials acknowledged 1,417 civilian deaths.
However, Airwars, a nonprofit organisation monitoring civilian harm from military operations, estimated the actual number of deaths at between 8,264 and 13,360.
The Costs of War project estimates that more than 38 million people were displaced across Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria as a result of the post-9/11 wars.
More than 800,000 US troops served in Afghanistan during the war.
Before the withdrawal of the last US forces in 2021, approximately 2,500 US troops had been killed and 20,000 wounded. Across the United States, Britain and allied forces, approximately 3,500 personnel were killed and more than 23,500 wounded.
According to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, 3,481 US troops were killed and more than 31,000 wounded in the Iraq War.
The war’s long-term costs have also been immense.
The Costs of War project estimates that caring for veterans who participated in post-9/11 wars could cost the United States between $2.2 trillion and $2.5 trillion by 2050. Many veterans who served in the war continue to face mental health problems.
The United States spent an estimated $5.8 trillion on the two-decade war and allocated another $2.2 trillion for veterans’ care in the coming decades, bringing the total cost to at least $8 trillion.
