The U.S. Congress never declared war on Afghanistan, a country where more than 1,000 U.S. troops -- and thousands of Afghan civilians --have died since President Bush ordered the invasion and occupation of that country in 2001.
The vague authorization that Bush received to pursue the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, which was treated by Democrats and Republicans alike as justification for the incursion into Afghanistan is now more than eight years old -- and during that time all of the facts on the ground in Afghanistan and most of the facts internationally have changed.
Yet, the occupation continues. Indeed, the U.S. troop presence is escalating toward 100,000, even as other countries -- including, most recently, the Netherlands -- prepare to exit Afghanistan.
By any reasonable reading of the Constitution -- which rests the warmaking power with the Congress, along with the sole power to appropriate money to that use so long as expenditure does not last "for a longer term than two years" -- it is high time for members of the House and Senate to debate whether this undeclared, yet seemingly endless, war should continue.
