Washington ? U.S. costs for the fighting in Afghanistan should be $10.2 billion this year, Congress’ nonpartisan budget analyst is estimating, about one-third what President Bush wants for the Pentagon’s overall war against terrorism.

The estimate by the Congressional Budget Office assumes that the Pentagon, as announced, will withdraw some troops and ships from the area and that fewer targets remain than existed when the war began last October. The projection covers the federal budget year that runs through Sept. 30.

“If operational conditions change from those assumed in the estimate, however, then the costs may be higher or lower than CBO estimates,” the budget agency wrote in an April 10 letter providing the data to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

The estimate excluded the Defense Department’s broader costs of battling terrorism in the United States, such as flying combat air patrols over some American cities, or in other parts of the world besides central Asia. It also omitted the price of economic and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and nearby nations.

So far this year, Congress has provided $17.4 billion to the Defense Department for the overall war against terrorism.