S troops enjoy Christmas Dinner in Afghanistan at a cost the Pentagon refuses to say exactly, but estimates range anywhere from $500.00 to $1000,00 US. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David J. Overson, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment).
We all know the cost of war is absolutely ridiculous. For example in 2014, it will cost an average of an eye-popping $2.1 million for every U.S. troop serving in Afghanistan, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
But this Christmas we wanted to know exactly what the cost is to serve Christmas dinner on a paper plate in Afghanistan to U.S. troops – needless to say no one had an answer for that question.
One official in the Pentagon, who refused to state his name or rank for fear of reprisal for speaking with a reporter not on the authorized media contact list, indicated that it costs around $1000.00 per meal – conservatively. Of course, we have no way of verifying that information, because the Pentagon won’t say exactly.
The cost is so shockingly high because the Christmas dinner has to be shipped from the U.S. all the way to Afghanistan across sea and overland supply routes which are literally thousands of miles, including those overland routes currently controlled by the Pakistanis which charge a sort of tax for each shipping container going across the border.
You also have to factor in the cost of the private contactors who over bill the government by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
Not to mention the pay off’s to warlords (not to attack) and corrupt Afghan officials. By the time it winds up getting to U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan the cost has increased rather dramatically.
Per plate estimates range but the conservative figure is almost a thousand dollars a plate. Almost as bad as $800 dollars per gallon for fuel used by our troops in Afghanistan (see article: $500 dollar per gallon cost for gas sticker sock for cost of war http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/23/report-finds-huge-waste-in-afghan-hospital-project/).
Other Pentagon officials I talked to refused to say how much a Christmas dinner cost in Afghanistan. They know that if the American public knew the cost there would be outrage!
The cost of bottled water is also outrageous – estimated at $4.69 cents per gallon – conservatively (source: Marines take steps to avoid costly bottled water resupply http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2011/May/Pages/MarinesTakeStepstoAvoidCostlyBottledWaterResupply.aspx).
More outrageous than the cost of gas, water in Afghanistan is the cost to kill a Taliban fighter.
Estimates range to upwards to $50,000 dollars (U.S.) per kill according to one report (see article: Cost to kill each Taliban soldier – $50 thousand dollars U.S. http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article38463).