The Biden administration has provided Kyiv with $8 billion in security aid, more than the $7.4 billion the U.S. spent in the first five years of the war in Afghanistan. (The picture shows the US-aided M777 howitzer) Picture: Taken from the Twitter of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (file photo)
The two countries have exchanged fire for more than four months since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine in February. According to foreign media reports, since the outbreak of the war, the Biden administration has provided Kyiv with $8 billion (equivalent to about NT$238 billion) in security assistance, exceeding the US$7.4 billion (about NT$220 billion) that the United States spent five years before the war in Afghanistan. ) overhead.
The White House issued a statement on the 8th local time, saying that under various laws, Biden authorized the Secretary of State to reduce spending on defense goods and services and military education and training by up to $400 million to provide assistance to Ukraine.
Fox News reported that the latest aid package was negotiated with Ukrainian officials to meet their specific needs on the front lines. Just a few days ago, Putin declared victory in the Udon Lugansk region.
The Pentagon confirmed on the 8th that the United States has provided Ukraine with $8 billion in security assistance since the Russian-Ukrainian war, but Washington has promised far more funds than this figure. Previously, the U.S. Congress had agreed to provide Ukraine with $54 billion (about NT$1.6 trillion) to “suppress Putin’s offensive.”
Fox News said it was unclear how much the U.S. would ultimately spend in 2022 to counter Russia’s military action against Ukraine, but according to ForeignAssistance.gov, the U.S. government’s official foreign aid statistics website, U.S. security assistance to Ukraine has so far exceeded 5 years before the war in Afghanistan.
On October 7, 2001, the then US President George W. Bush ordered a military strike against Afghanistan, opening the longest war in US history. The report mentioned that by the end of 2006, the United States had spent more than $7.4 billion on operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan. U.S. spending on the war peaked in 2011, spending $11.4 billion that year. Then the war in Afghanistan ended with the Taliban taking control of Kabul and the hasty withdrawal of American troops.