Speaking this month on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) sharply criticized the Afghanistan War, declaring that the war “has always been about money — increased appropriations for the Defense Department and huge profits for the contractors, which hire retired admirals and generals.”

The war, Duncan details, has cost the US government over a trillion dollars and resulted in the deaths of thousands of American military members and the wounding of many more, all while US coalition bombs killing civilians creates “more hatred and resentment for our country.”

Concludes Duncan:

Mr. Speaker, the American people don’t want forever, permanent wars. This Afghanistan folly has lasted four times longer than World War II. We should have come home a long time ago.

Watch Duncan’s speech here:

Duncan is an advisory board member for the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Instead of ending the Afghanistan War, the US government is moving ahead with an increase in US troops in Afghanistan. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters Monday that the process is underway for adding more than 3,000 new US troops in Afghanistan, with some of those troops already on their way.

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.