Nearly 6 trillion Dollars spent on war on terror: Study

The sum could cover the education fees of nearly 50 million American students or the cover the salary of 108 million American teachers.

Yes, a lot can be done with nearly $6 trillion, the money spent by the United States on wars that directly contributed to the deaths of around 500,000 people since the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

The figure was the focus of an annual study titled "Costs of War" which was published by Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs on Wednesday.

“We were told to expect wars that would be quick, cheap, effective and beneficial to the U.S. interest...Because we finance these wars on a credit card, the costs of the wars themselves pose a national security challenge,” study author Neta Crawford said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

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The figure was arrived at by computing the Pentagon’s spending and its Overseas Contingency Operations account, besides "war-related spending by the Department of State, past and obligated spending for war veterans’ care, interest on the debt incurred to pay for the wars, and the prevention of and response to terrorism by the Department of Homeland Security." It is comparatively higher than the Pentagon estimates.

The total showed "The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9 trillion (in current dollars) on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post 9/11 war veterans."

"In sum, high costs in war and war-related spending pose a national security concern because they are unsustainable...The public would be better served by increased transparency and by the development of a comprehensive strategy to end the wars and deal with other urgent national security priorities," the report concluded.

Meanwhile, another report by the National Defense Strategy Commission (a group of 12 former Republican, Democratic and national security officials), also released on the same day said that U.S. security is "at greater risk than at any time in decades."

It recommended boosting military preparedness and warned of a loss in the hypothetical scenario that they enter into a war with Russia or China.