Laar Puts Afghanistan Soldier Price Tag at €8,000 per Month
Minister of Defense Mart Laar has named the amount that Estonia spends per month on each soldier it has deployed in Afghanistan.
"If we add together all possible costs, before taxes, armaments and vacation pay, then this would amount to 8,000 euros per month, or 100,000 euros per year for every soldier," Laar said in Parliament on November 23, answering an opposition MP's question regarding the relative expenditures of Estonia and the United Kingdom.
The two countries' soldiers serve side by side in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan's troubled Helmand Province.
Laar said that it was difficult to come up with an equivalent expense figure for the UK military, since their system was more complicated. He nevertheless said that, not counting salaries, their soldiers cost 392,000 pounds sterling per year to deploy, Delfi reported. The sum converts to 455,000 euros at today's rates.
Roughly 160 Estonian Defense Forces personnel currently serve in Afghanistan. Its troops have suffered nine casualties and over 60 servicemen have been wounded since deployment began in 2003.
Steve Roman