This happened on Friday, to “little fanfare“:
The American military says it has completed what it called the “recovery,” meaning withdrawal, of the 33,000 surge troops it had sent to Afghanistan two years ago, more than a week ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline President Obama set for them to go home.
Here a few more numbers to keep in mind as we approach the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of US combat forces:
68,000: The number of US troops still stationed in Afghanistan.
117,227: The total number of Department of Defense contractors working in Afghanistan.
34,765: The number of US citizens working as contractors in Afghanistan.
9,355: The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office.
18,553: The total number of civilian casualties since the war started.
1491: The number of US troop casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office.
2121: The total number of US troop casualties since the war started.
$385,600,000,000: The estimated financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to the US taxpayer since Obama took office.
$557,300,000,000: The estimated financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to the US taxpayer since October 7, 2001.
