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UK war costs more than double in less than a year

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Mar 9, IRNA - British MPs are calling on the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to detail the sudden rise in the military cost of the country’s two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have more than doubled in less than a year.

In a new report on the government’s Spring Supplementary Estimate, the parliamentary Defense Select Committee said that the MoD had now sought “an extra £4,517 million ($ 6.5 bn) for operations in 2008-09, far beyond the estimate of ‘at least £2 billion’ set out in the Main Estimates at the beginning of the financial year” last April.

“We are fully aware of the volatility of operational costs for both Iraq and Afghanistan and appreciate the MoD's efforts in providing the House of Commons and ourselves with as accurate a forecast of such costs as it can,” the all-party committee said.

But given that the MoD had sought over twice the amount it set down last year as a likely minimum for operational, it said it hoped that “the next forecast in 2009-10 will prove more robust an assessment of operational costs and closer to the eventual out-turn."

Last month, the committee reported that the cost of operations by British forces in Afghanistan last year rose to more than £1.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 122 percent compared with 2006/07.

Even more surprising, given the reduction in troops in Iraq, the cost of Britain's military deployment there also increased to £1.6 bn, a year-on-year rise of 72 percent.

In its latest report, the MPs said they expected that the MoD will “detail what the very substantial contingency in the Spring Supplementary Estimate for the Iraq drawdown is particularly intended or expected to cover.”

“We would expect the response to this report to set out the extent to which the cost of the drawdown (as opposed to the cost of the continued, albeit reduced, presence in Iraq) will continue into Financial Year 2009-10,” they said.

The committee said that it also remained “concerned about the potential impact in the future of UORs (Urgent Operational Requirements) on the MoD's core budget” and added that it would inquire into the issue later this year.