WASHINGTON, April 20: By this spring America’s annual war expenditures in Iraq will have nearly doubled since the US invasion more than three years ago, say two separate reports by an official and a private research organisations.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent public policy research institute, reports that the cost of US engagement in Iraq continues to rise despite a fall in US casualties this year. The war cost, the report notes, has risen gradually from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to

an anticipated $94 billion in 2006.

“Despite its high costs, this plan may also fall short of meeting US security requirements if the kinds of challenges faced by the US military change significantly over the coming years,” the report warns.

The Congressional Research Service, which prepares situation reports for Congress, says that the US government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, the report says.

Describing US war expenditures in Iraq as the largest emergency spending bill in America’s history, the reports attribute rapidly rising cost of repairing, rebuilding and replacing equipment as the main causes of the hike.

The CSBA says that it might be possible to meet US security requirements adequately at lower budget levels by adopting a scaled-back and more transformation-oriented defense plan.

“In other words, the ability of the US military to effectively meet future challenges is likely to have more to do with

how wisely we spend our defense dollars, than on how much more we spend,” the report says.

The Bush Administration has requested $441.8 billion in budget authority for national defense in fiscal year 2006, including $421.1 billion for the Department of Defense and $20.7 billion for Department of Energy.