Opportunity Costs of the Afghan War

Link:http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=18ae45b4-2bbb-4f1f-8f2f-063cb66b3721

This article is about the costs of fighting the war in Afghanistan. The projected ending cost of the Afghan war is $22 billion spent on the mission, payments to replace old equipment and treatment for veterans. This cost, which was calculated by David Perry of Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies can be broken down: $7billion for the cost of war (e.g: ammunition and fuel), $11billion for long term health care of veterans, $2billion for equipment used for specific missions and the final $2billion for the replacement for the replacement of the military's LAV-3 armoured vehicles. The liberal government provided funding to the Defence Department by covering 85 percent of the war cost and the Conservative government providing 29 percent, the rest paid for with the Department's own money.



Connections to Introductory Concepts

The connection I make with the current situation in Afghanistan and the chapter in our text has to do with opportunity costs. There is obviously a large opportunity cost to this war from the large government funding to the utilization of resources. In any war that is fought, the concept of opportunity costs must be applied to utilize resources effectively. The sum of $22billion does entirely cover everything in the war, so the opportunity costs would only be bigger once every cost involved in the war is covered. The money spent on this mission could of been used for other investments (e.g: more funding for health care, education, and other government services). It is not only the money that has an opportunity cost attached to it. Materials and factories needed to produce war equipment could of been used to manufactor other things. Soldiers serving in this war are also giving a large opportunity cost and that should also be considered when calculating the cost of war. Many things have to be sacrificed when a nation goes to war, and quite often the direct cost is just not worth as much as the opportunity costs.



Reflection

War is never a good thing. I am in favour of ending this war as quick as possible, as more and more Canadian soldiers have been reported wounded or dead. I commend the men and women overseas for proving aid to people in war ravaged countries such as Afghanistan, but taking into account the wounded and the opportunity cost of war, one can question whether or not this war is still worth fighting for. There are other matters back home that the government should focus on, such as the environment and economy.