NEW YORK, Oct 24: The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, USA Today said on Wednesday quoting a Congressional budget survey.

A previous survey (CBO) estimate put the wars’ costs at more than $1.6 trillion. This one adds $705 billion in interest, taking into account that the conflicts are being funded with borrowed money.

The new estimate also includes President Bush’s request on Monday for another $46 billion in war funding, Rep. John Spratt, the budget committee chairman, who provided the Congressional surveys new numbers to USA Today.

Assuming that Iraq accounts for about 80 per cent of that total, the Iraq war would cost $1.9 trillion, including $564 million in interest, said Thomas Kahn, Spratt’s staff director. The committee holds a hearing on war costs on Wednesday morning.

“The number is so big, it boggles the mind,” said Rahm Emanuel, a lawmaker on Capitol Hill. Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the White House budget office, said, “Congress should stop playing politics with our troops by trying to artificially inflate war funding levels.” He declined to provide a White House estimate.

The CBO estimates assume that 75,000 troops will remain in both countries through 2017, including roughly 50,000 in Iraq. That is a “very speculative” projection, though it’s not entirely unreasonable, said Loren Thompson, a defence analyst at the non-partisan Lexington Institute.

As of Sept 30, the two wars have cost $604 billion, the CBO says. Adjusted for inflation, that is higher than the costs of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, according to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Defence spending during those two wars accounted for a far larger share of the American economy.