U.S. Senator Introduces Bill to End Afghanistan War and Give Veterans Cash Bonus

The United States Republican Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday introduced a bill that could end the 17-year conflict in the war-weary Afghanistan.

Rand Paul, a Republican senator proposes giving all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans a one-time $2,500 payout and declaring victory in Afghanistan in what he is billing a cost-saving move for the United States.

According to him, the payout to veterans would cost taxpayers more than $7 billion, but it would also be “an immediate savings of 83 percent when compared to the current yearly cost of nation-building.”

Paul said under his plan the bonus for veterans would be required to be paid out within one year of the official end of the war.

“It’s important when to know to declare victory and leave a war,” he said in a video on Twitter. “I think that time is long past, but I think we can all agree that time has come.”

“I supported going to war in Afghanistan in 2001, attacking those who harbored the 9/11 terrorists or helped to organize the attack … and going after al-Qaeda,” Paul said.

“…we are many, many years past that mission” after all, Paul says, “Osama bin Laden was killed eight years ago.”

The United State has turned to nation-building at the cost of more than $50 billion spent a year in Afghanistan, he added.

 “We don’t need to be wasting that $50 billion, and there is no doubt much of it is wasted,” Paul said. “When are they (the Afghanistan government) going to pay for their own stuff? Why does Uncle Sam have to be Uncle Sap and pay for everything?”

About 14,000 U.S. troops are still deployed to Afghanistan in support and training roles and more than 2,400 American service member, have lost their lives since 2001