PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan - The direct cost of Canada's 10-year involvement in Afghanistan is estimated to be $11.3 billion, the federal government has quietly revealed.
It is the first complete fiscal accounting of the mission, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper last year suggested would run in the neighbourhood of $8 billion by the time the combat mission ends in 2011.
The figures, which include for the first time estimates for the Foreign Affairs Department, the Canadian International Development Agency, Corrections Canada and the RCMP, were posted without fanfare Tuesday on the Privy Council Office's Task Force Afghanistan web site.
The incremental cost estimate does not include post-2011 disability and health care costs for soldiers wounded in battle or suffering from post-traumatic stress.
The forecast runs considerably less than the $13.9 billion to $18.3 billion estimate parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page issued last October at the height of the federal election campaign.
A direct comparison between the figures is difficult because Page's estimates included projection for long-term veteran's benefits and were, by his own admission, a hazy accounting because the civilian agencies refused to co-operate with his investigation.
The new federal numbers suggest almost 80 per cent of the price tag -- $9 billion -- will be for military operations and hardware.
The $2.3 billion being spent by the civilian side breaks down as follows:
- $1.7 billion for reconstruction and aid through the Canadian International Development Agency.
- $400 million for the Department of Foreign Affairs, the RCMP and Correctional Service of Canada.
- $150 million for existing Veterans Affairs benefits, not future claims.
The report also includes a massive caveat, noting that "operations are constantly changing and adapting," meaning cost estimates "are constantly refined and adjusted to reflect this changing reality."
The figures released this week are incremental costs, which means they do not reflect the cost of expenses the Canadian military would have had to pay anyway, such as salaries.
Canadian special forces troops were the first on the ground in Afghanistan in late 2001; the country has maintained a full battle group in Kandahar since early 2006. Currently 2,850 soldiers, aircrew and support staff are officially in theatre, but temporary-duty assignments add to that authorized total.
So far, 108 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died as part of the mission, while roughly 375 troops have been wounded.
There's little doubt that Canada has invested heavily in Afghanistan, the district leader in the volatile Panjwaii district west of Kandahar -- where Canada's troops have fought repeated bloody battles with the Taliban -- said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Haji Baran said this week's anti-Canadian protests in Kandahar city, which followed the deaths of three boys this week in an explosion locals have blamed on Canadian troops, should not be taken as a sign that Afghans are ungrateful for the sacrifice.
"The people who did that are uneducated and ignorant," Baran said after CIDA announced more renovations Thursday to the Shamsuddin Kakaarh Boys School in the community known as Bazaar-e-Panjwaii.
The explosion that killed the children near the village of Salehan earlier this week is under investigation, but Afghan officials are blaming the discovery of an unexploded mortar shell that locals say most likely came from a Canadian position.
Baran said people in Panjwaii would like to see an even greater Canadian involvement throughout the troubled district, with more soldiers and development.
"That is the people saying that, not me telling them to say it."
Since Page's scathing indictment of the mission's accounting, co-ordination and reporting among departments has improved, the report noted.
