This model is eight centuries old with

Editor's note: ...bonds financing war since their invention: Genoa issued the first recorded public bond in 1150, and Venice followed with the "prestiti" in 1171–72, a forced loan on citizens' wealth that funded a fleet against Byzantium. Both instruments were born from the same pressure, the need to pay for war without bankrupting the state outright, and they were refined over centuries as Venice and Genoa fought each other, the Ottomans, and beyond. Jewish moneylending families in Venice, including Anselmo del Banco (chartered in 1513) and later Abraham del Banco (who helped found the Banco del Giro in 1619), were woven into this same public finance system, though centuries after the prestiti's origin. Three hundred years later, the Warburg family, descended from the same Venetian del Banco lineage, emerged as bankers in Hamburg, founding M.M. Warburg & Co. in 1798, and their descendants went on to shape modern institutions like the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The scale has changed almost unrecognizably since then. Venice's 1171 prestiti raised the funds for a single fleet; by contrast, the U.S. "War on Terror" is approaching $10 trillion in cost to taxpayers 25 years after the September 11th self-inflicted staged attacks, with initial costs for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts exceeding $8 trillion and roughly $2 trillion more incurred from operations following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel (intentionally planned and staged to open up a war on Hamas and Gaza) and the conflicts in Yemen and Iran. Much of this, like Venice's wars, has been debt-financed: interest payments on borrowing for the wars are projected to match total spending on the wars themselves by 2030, exceeding $2 trillion. The mechanism, governments borrowing against future revenue to fund war in the present, is eight centuries old. What's changed is the astronomical scale, and the fact that the debt is now serviced through a global bond market rather than a single city-state's forced levies on its wealthiest citizens.

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The Cost of America’s 25-Year War on Terror: Closing in on $10 Trillion

by Bethany Blankley, The Center Square | August 23, 2026

(The Center Square)–Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, the cost to taxpayers for the U.S. War on Terror is approaching $10 trillion.

Initial costs for two conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were more than $8 trillion. An additional $2 trillion will be incurred by U.S. military spending after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack against Israel and conflicts in Yemen and Iran.

Iraq and Afghanistan war costs: $8+ trillion

"From late 2001 through fiscal year 2022, the U.S. appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $8 trillion for the post-9/11 wars – an estimated $5.8 trillion in appropriations, plus an additional minimum of $2.2 trillion for obligations to care for the veterans of these wars through the next several decades," according to an analysis of federal data published by Brown University's Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

The report breaks down spending by federal agency for the conflicts between 2001 and 2022. It includes more than $2 billion initially spent by the Department of Defense, with another $884 billion in increases. It also includes more than $189 billion spent by the State Department, more than $1.1 billion spent by the Department of Homeland Security and more than $465 billion spent on veteran care.

During the 21 years analyzed, interest on federal borrowing to fund the wars exceeded $1 billion.

Afghanistan: $2 trillion

The 20-year Afghanistan conflict cost more than $2 trillion.

On Oct. 7, 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan with the stated purpose of overthrowing the Taliban and dismantling al-Queda, which took credit for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After the U.S. fought al-Queda and the Taliban for 20 years, the Biden administration withdrew U.S. troops in August 2001. The administration left $7 billion worth of U.S. military equipment behind and turned control of the country back to the Taliban.

Iraq and Syria: more than $5 trillion

The U.S. invaded Iraq in the Second Gulf War in March 2003, initially over Iraq allegedly obtaining weapons of mass destruction. The conflict lasted until December 2011.

Fighting Marxists

After imposing sanctions on Syria in 2011 and supporting the overthrow of Syria's president Bashar Assad in 2013, the Obama administration launched airstrikes in 2014. U.S. troops have been stationed there ever since until they were pulled out in April.

According to the Brown report, the U.S. spent nearly $3 trillion on both conflicts. A Harvard Kennedy School analysis puts the total higher, noting the Iraq war cost $5 trillion.

The former Al-Qaeda leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, wanted by U.S. authorities with a $10 million bounty, is now Syria’s leader and was removed from a U.S. terrorist most wanted list by the Trump administration. The president invited him to the White House, praising the man who previously supported suicide bombers in Syria and Iraq who killed U.S. troops.

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The U.S. national debt crossed $40 trillion this month (mid-to-late August 2026), and this is composed of Treasury securities, bills, notes, and bonds, which pay interest and can never be repaid:

Debtor Nation 2026: The $40 trillion national debt