WASHINGTON – Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) told PJM is an exclusive interview that President Trump should not increase the number of troops in Afghanistan and that Congress should stop spending money on military operations in the country.

“I’m absolutely opposed to it, because if you increase the number of American troops that means the number of Americans to be killed and wounded goes up. And again, I come back to the point, what have we accomplished? We spent over $800 billion dollars. We are very close to $1 trillion in the past 16 years,” Jones said.

“We've had over 2,200 Americans killed and 20,000 wounded. What have we accomplished? In fact, [Hamid] Karzai, the former leader of Afghanistan, is now trying to get the Russians to negotiate with the Taliban so he can go back into power. It’s now like the Wild West that is wilder than it has ever been… by increasing the number of troops, all you’re doing is increasing the odds of American troops being killed or wounded,” he added.

Jones argued that “trying to build empires around the world” does not work.

“History has proven it doesn't work going back to the Roman Empire. I mean, anybody that knows history – that's what [former Marine Corps Commandant] Gen. Charles Krulak has said to me many times – if you know history, you will know that no one is going to change Afghanistan. It is a tribal nation,” he said.

Jones told PJM that Congress has not had a “legitimate debate” on Afghanistan since 2001, which is part of the reason he introduced H.R. 1666, which would “prohibit funds for activities in Afghanistan” if passed and signed into law.

“More important than the money is young men and women are being killed and wounded and Congress has a constitutional responsibility to debate and vote about sending our young men and women to war, but we don't do debates like those anymore,” he said. “Yes, there have been efforts by Democrats and Republicans to put amendments on appropriations bills with money going to Afghanistan, but really no policy debate at all.”

Jones would like to see House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ask the “committees of jurisdiction to mark up a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).”

“We've written him letters, we talked to him personally and he has not done it. This is going to be an effort of trying to get more and more members of Congress of both parties to come together for no other reason but to say after 16 years is it now a time to debate the issues of our country and our military in Afghanistan, and what’s the definition of victory? After 16 years we have no definition of victory,” Jones said.