Paul Congress debated a resolution more than a week ago directing President Obama to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan no later than the end of this year.

The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, so it is clearly appropriate for Congress to assert its voice on matters of armed conflict.

In recent decades, however, Congress has defaulted on this most critical duty, essentially granting successive presidents the unilateral (and clearly unconstitutional) power to begin and end wars at will.

This resolution was not expected to pass, but the ensuing debate and floor vote served important purposes.

First, it was important to finally have a floor debate on the merits and demerits of continuing our involvement in Afghanistan.

Most congressional action regarding Afghanistan has concerned continued funding for the conflict. Thus, members of Congress have cloaked their support for an increasingly unpopular war in terms of financial support of the troops.

But this resolution had nothing to do with funding or defunding the war, but dealt directly with the wisdom of an open-ended commitment of U.S. troops (and hundreds of billions of tax dollars) in Afghanistan.

Members opposing the resolution had to make their case for the ongoing loss of American lives as well as the huge expenditures required for an intractable conflict.

Supporters of the war made the same intellectually weak arguments for continuing our occupation of a nation with a long and bloody history of resisting foreign occupation.

Ultimately, the war supporters in Congress prevailed in the vote on the resolution. Still, the vote was significant because it places every member of Congress on the record as supporting or not supporting the unconstitutional, costly, violent occupation of a country that never attacked us.

This vote should serve as an important reminder to the American people of where their representatives stand when it comes to policing the world, empire building, and war.

The War Powers Resolution was passed in 1973 in the aftermath of Vietnam. It was intended to prevent presidents from slipping this country so easily into unwinnable wars, wars with indistinct enemies and vague goals.

Unfortunately, it has had the opposite effect by literally legalizing undeclared wars for 90 days. In the case of Afghanistan, 90 days has stretched into nearly a decade.

The original purpose of the initial authorization of force — to pursue those responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11 — is no longer applicable.

Al-Qaeda has left Afghanistan, and we are now pursuing the Taliban, who never attacked us. The Taliban are not our friends, but the more of them we kill, the stronger they become.

Ron Paul represents the 14th Congressional district of Texas.