Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a substantial portion of media coverage and political debate focused on the glaring economic costs of the war. After nearly 20 years of military involvement, the United States is estimated to have spent over two trillion dollars in the region. However, this economic cost pales in comparison to the human cost of war. Reports estimate that, as of April 2021, more than 71,000 innocent Afghan and Pakistani civilians had been killed as a direct result of the Afghanistan War. In fact, despite the U.S. government’s claim that it was only targeting terrorists and enemy combatants, many of the victims of U.S.-led airstrikes were innocent civilians. Reports show that, in 2017, the U.S. relaxed its regulations on airstrikes, resulting in a nearly 330% increase in the number of civilian casualties. The large number of innocent civilians killed during the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan raises critical questions regarding the authority of international law in relation to acts of war.
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