Military operations in Afghanistan are costing about a billion dollars a month. Economic aid to Afghanistan from the US is only about $25 million a month. This is actually understated, because hundreds of American civil affairs troops are assisting Afghan civilians. Billions of dollars in economic aid for Afghanistan is held up because of efforts to insure that the money is not stolen by corrupt officials. Even in the best of times, corruption is a major problem in Afghanistan. Other Western nations have agreed to provide the bulk of the economic aid, while the US concentrated on the military situation.