DoD Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request

The Department of Defense's Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request was submitted to Congress recently. You can view the 28-slide rollout presentation at the link below. (Adobe Acrobat PDF). The second link will bring you to the DoD FY2016 Budget Fact Sheet (Adobe Acrobat PDF).

www.defense.gov/pubs/FY16_Budget_Request_Rollout_Final_2-2-15.pdf

www.defense.gov/pubs/DoD_Budget_FY2016_Fact_Sheet.pdf

Afghanistan to Remain Dependent on West

Afghanistan will not be able to fund the security forces that are needed to quell the insurgency - the international community will have to foot much of that bill. The Afghan government yearly budget is about $7.6 billion. International donors provide 65% of that amount. Read more in "Op-Ed: Afghanistan to remain western-funded client state", Digital Journal, by Ken Hanly, October 28, 2014.

Afghan Civil Service Pay for Oct on Hold

Afghanistan has run out of money. The country will delay paying salaries to hundreds of thousands of civil servants because it does not have enough cash. Afghan military and police pay comes from a separate fund (courtesy of the U.S.).  Afghanistan has asked for $537 million in emergency funds from the United States; no word on whether we will fork over another 1/2 billion dollars. U.S. officials say that it would not provide "new money"; but may provide an advance of $537 million from next years allocation. Read more in "Cash-Poor Afghanistan Will Delay Paying Civil Servants - Finance Ministry Official", The New York Times, September 27, 2014.

Cost of Fielding A Soldier in Afghanistan for One Year

What is the cost of fielding a Soldier for one year in Afghanistan?  It depends on who you ask and how you work the figures.  Most likely the answer falls between $815,000 to $1.4 million a year.  Read more in "One soldier, one year: $850,000 and rising", CNN Security Clearance, February 28, 2012.