Aw: Democrats finally discover federal initiative that's too costly for them

The hefty price tag of the pending Afghan troop increase is already drawing opposition from many Congressional Democrats, deepening Mr. Obama’s estrangement from his own party over the conflict…

The administration’s dispute with Congressional Democrats like Mr. Honda reflects stark statistics about the Afghan war’s rising costs. The U.S. is currently spending roughly $3.6 billion a month in Afghanistan, a figure that will increase significantly once additional troops deploy there.

The White House estimates that sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan would add approximately $30 billion in new costs per year, or about $1 million per soldier or Marine. The Pentagon estimates that it will cost roughly $500,000 per soldier, for a total of about $15 billion per year in new expenses…

The Pentagon has already signaled that the U.S. has for the first time begun spending more money in Afghanistan than in Iraq. The administration’s fiscal 2010 budget for the Pentagon, released in May, asked for $65 billion for Afghanistan and $61 billion for Iraq.