London

THE cost of US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria has soared to US$4.4 trillion since 9/11, and has been estimated to rise to US$5.6 trillion in the coming years.

A study by Brown University's Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs has indicated that these costs are a massive burden on the US federal and state budgets and the economy: the estimates are almost three times higher than the Pentagon's authorised US$1.52 trillion spending for Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria during the same period.