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More in Congress question Afghanistan policy
Congressional skepticism over the Obama administration's plans for Afghanistan mounted Sunday as four senators questioned whether more troops should head there and one lawmaker called for a withdrawal timeline.
Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Diane Feinstein of California and Dick Durbin of Illinois along with Republican Susan Collins of Maine said they shared colleagues' concerns about boosting troop levels before substantial bolstering of the Afghan military and police.
"I just don't know that more troops is the answer. We clearly need more American civilians to help build up institutions. We need to grow the size of the Afghan army. But we're dealing with widespread corruption, a very difficult terrain, and I'm just wondering where this ends and how we'll know if this succeeded," said Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has urged the White House to avoid escalating the war and speed up training for Afghan security forces instead of sending more U.S. troops into combat.
Durbin said he agreed with Levin.