I’ve just finished reading Obama Wars by Bob Woodward which centered around the Obama administration’s decision to add troops to Afghanistan. It made me curious how troop strength had ebbed and flowed through the last ten years of war.

A quick search on the internet found a 72 page paper prepared for the Congressional Research Service, Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues by Amy Belasco. This paper provides an analysis of troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan and the costs associated with those troups.

Below is a table and graph of “boots on the ground” as measured through 2009 and estimated through 2012. Though the announced strategy is to begin drawing down troops in Afghanistan this July, the paper doesn’t project any reduction this or next year. The report also notes that…

“Although Boots on the Ground is the most commonly cited measure of troop strength, that measure does not include over 100,000 other troops deployed in the region providing theater- wide support for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), the Afghan War, and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the Iraq War.”

Average Monthly Boots On the Ground in Afghanistan and Iraq: FY2002-FY2012 Reported FY02-FY08, Estimated FY09-FY12, Rounded to Hundreds
				Percentage Change
Fiscal Year/Country	Afghanistan	Iraq	Total	Annual	Since FY2003	Since FY2008
FY2002	5,200	0	5,200	NA	NA	NA
FY2003	10,400	67,700	78,100	1402%	NA	NA
FY2004	15,200	130,600	145,800	87%	87%	NA
FY2005	19,100	143,800	162,900	12%	109%	NA
FY2006	20,400	141,100	161,500	-1%	107%	NA
FY2007	23,700	148,300	172,000	7%	120%	NA
FY2008	30,100	157,800	187,900	9%	141%	NA
FY2009	50,700	135,600	186,300	-1%	139%	-1%
FY2010	63,500	88,300	151,800	-19%	94%	-19%
FY2011	63,500	42,800	106,200	-30%	36%	-43%
FY2012	63,500	4,100	67,500	-36%	-14%	-64%
A Belasco. (2009, July 2). Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues [pdf]. Available: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/