(11.7.2018) Three days after the attacks, the United States Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that set the stage for the invasion of Afghanistan. I didn‘t understand what war really was or what it would mean for the future of our nation.

As it turns out, neither did Congress. Instead of a limited campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban, the 2001 war authorization became the legal justification used by three very different presidents for U.S. military action across the world. The U.S. Congress, which has been vested by the Constitution with the authority to decide when our nation goes to war, has not voted to authorize any of these military actions.