Iraq, Afghanistan will cost US $190 bn in 2008

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost at least $190 billion in 2008, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, making it the most expensive year in the conflicts since they were launched by US President George W Bush. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Congress to approve the funding after Bush this month beat back demands from Democrats for a quick end to the Iraq war and said the US presence there would go on after he leaves office in 2009. Gates said he hoped longer-term for a much smaller US force than the 1,65,000 troops currently in Iraq. The Pentagon’s request was made as senators reached a rare — but symbolic — consensus on a proposal on how to proceed in Iraq, passing a non-binding resolution calling for the creation of separate Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish “federal regions” with a weak central government in Baghdad.

ON THURSDAY

• US forces detained 21 suspected insurgents during operations targeting al Qaeda members in Samarra and Baiji, the US military said.

• A car bomb near a mosque killed one person and wounded two in New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said.