Rand Paul and Tom Udall are pressing US Congress to approve a bi-partisan bill ending the Afghanistan\u2019s longest war.<\/p>\n
Ariana News Agency-<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Two US Senators Rand Paul and Tom Udall on Tuesday introduced a bill to congress to end the nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n The American Forces Going Home After Noble (AFGHAN) Service Act includes a one-year timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces and provides $2,500 bonuses to the nearly three million soldiers who served in War on Terrorism since Oct. 2001.\u00a0 What he calls a \u201cpeace dividend\u201d would cost an estimated $7.8 billion.<\/p>\n In a conference call with national media on Tuesday, Sen. Paul said the nearly 18-year-old conflict has cost the U.S. $2 trillion and the lives of 2,300 service members.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very upfront with the soldiers in my state. I have two military bases,” Paul stated. “They nod their head in agreement when I tell them, \u2018Look, I just can\u2019t send you or members of my family back into these wars if there\u2019s not a military solution.'”<\/p>\n Sen. Paul says while there\u2019s broad public support for ending the war in Afghanistan, there\u2019s less willingness in Congress.\u00a0 Many of Paul’s Senate GOP colleagues want to keep a sizable force in Afghanistan, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who has called a complete withdrawal from the country \u201cprecipitous.\u201d<\/p>\n “He was the leader of the amendment that chastised the president last week for even considering leaving Afghanistan,” commented Paul. “I just think we’re on opposite sides of this.”<\/p>\n McConnell has raised concerns about terrorists regrouping and posing a threat to the U.S.<\/p>\n Sen. Paul doesn\u2019t expect the bill to get a vote anytime soon, but says the goal of introducing it is to build support among Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rand Paul and Tom Udall are pressing US Congress to approve a bi-partisan bill ending the Afghanistan\u2019s longest war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"1"},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[226,460,461,298],"class_list":["post-2282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-politics","category-security","tag-afghanistan-war","tag-rand-paul","tag-tom-udall","tag-us-congress"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":true,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n