‘Everything changed’: The human cost of 25 years of US wars

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that the wars launched after the September 11 attacks have had a vast human toll, citing estimates from Brown University’s Costs of War project that at least 4.5 million people have been killed and more than 38 million displaced across several countries. The piece says the post-9/11 US military campaign began with the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and expanded into Iraq, as well as air and drone operations in places including Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria and against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

The article uses personal accounts and conflict data to show how the wars affected civilians. It quotes an Iraqi man who was 18 when the 2003 invasion began and says he remembers bombings and friends who never returned. It also notes that in Afghanistan, the war lasted nearly 20 years, the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and conflict-related hunger, disease and unexploded ordnance continued to harm civilians. In Iraq, the report says millions were displaced and many remain uprooted decades later.

Beyond battlefield deaths, Al Jazeera highlights indirect harm from disease, malnutrition, destroyed infrastructure and forced migration. It also points to the impact on US veterans and the broader reshaping of US foreign policy after 9/11. The reporting places the wars in a wider historical context, arguing that their consequences continue to be felt across the region and beyond.