Afghanistan facts: more troops than Bush, $1,000,000 per troop deployed, Obama down among liberals

by: Chris Bowers

Tue Dec 01, 2009 at 18:54

On the politics:

• Only 35% of Americans approve of President Obama's handling of Afghanistan.

• President Obama's current approval rating among ideological groups, compared to his 2008 voting percentages among each group:
  

  Liberals: 77% approve, 89% voted for Obama in 2008
  Moderates: 59% approve, 60% voted for Obama in 2008
  Conservatives: 27% approve, 20% voted for Obama in 2008
  

  Obama is 12 points down among liberals, and 7 points up among conservatives.
  

• More Democrats approve of President Obama's Afghanistan performance than Republicans, even though more Republicans than Democrats support increasing troops in Afghanistan.  Click here for more.

• Adding 30,000 to 34,000 troops to Afghanistan will cost at least $30 billion.  That is nearly $1,000,000 per troop.

• Per capita income in the United States is just over $47,000 a year.  $1,000,000 would provide the average income for just over 21 Americans.

• Not counting contractors, there are currently 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and 120,000 in Iraq, for a total of 188,000.  During the height of the Bush administration's "surge" in Iraq, "there were 26,000 US troops in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq, for a total of 186,000."
  

• By next August, there will be another 30,000 to 34,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and roughly 70,000 fewer in Iraq.  Given the 34,000 additional troops President Obama has already deployed to Afghanistan, there will be little net change in the amount of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan during Obama's first two years in office.
  

• According to current promises and legal agreements, there zero troops in Iraq by December 31st, 2011, and Afghanistan withdrawal will begin seven months earlier.  So, hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives later, withdrawal will begin in earnest.