You pay for war first and foremost with blood. But the economic cost also is staggering, as former President Bush and current President Obama would adamantly agree.

You may already know that since our war on terror began in 2001, the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To get an idea how much that really is, and how rapidly our nation is spending money on the war effort, boot up your computer and go to costofwar.com.

Blew you away, didn't it?

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo is blown away by the cost, too, both in human and financial terms. During a recent meeting with this newspaper's editorial board, the senator shed some light on those costs and the justification behind them, noting that disparate presidents Bush and Obama follow the same path in seeking a long-term solution to these wars.

Sen. Crapo said the American strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan involves three steps: clear, hold and build. Each presents challenges, with clearing potentially taking relatively little time but holding and building perhaps requiring years.

Two things that make Afghanistan such a formidable task for our forces, according to the senator:

• Taliban leaders have been able to slide back and forth to Pakistan with relative impunity.

• Since President Obama publicly announced withdrawal plans and has recommitted to them, Taliban leaders have been further emboldened while their followers hesitate before on jumping on the Americans' bandwagon.

Sen. Crapo pointed out that roughly 90 percent of Taliban forces are simply local Afghanistan citizens coerced into service. He said the vast majority of them are pro-U.S., but they face this dilemma: Do you switch to the American side now, knowing the clock is ticking on significant U.S. withdrawal and then the potential return of Taliban leaders who would execute you as a traitor? It's literally a life and death gamble that many are not now willing to take, and exemplifies one of the many complexities in gaining a lasting foothold for freedom in the region and economic relief back here at home.

We appreciate the senator's perspective and recommend to readers a superb book by retired Army colonel Andrew J. Bacevich, "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism." The book is a bitter pill to swallow but important if we're going to solve our country's greatest problems. According to Bacevich, the first step is understanding every American's complicity in the crises our nation faces today, including the economically unsustainable war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is an exceptional book for those with the courage and intellectual curiosity to tackle it.

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Editor's note: In the time it took to write this editorial - 22 minutes - the U.S. spent $6.6 million on the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.