Harman: Congress not receptive to more troops in Afghanistan

Every time you turn around these days, there's Jane Harman talking about Afghanistan. Last Friday at the Brookings Institution, she reiterated many of her main points on the topic, but she also said this:

The question that should be put to Congress is not about troop levels. I don't think Congress right now would be very receptive -- Congress, the majority of Congress -- to a request for more troops.

That has been interpreted by some commentators to mean that Harman, typically a hawk, is personally opposed to sending more troops to Afghanistan. However, her point seems to be that regardless of the good that more troops might do, her fellow Democrats would be unlikely to support an increase -- at least right now. Instead, she said the focus should be on cleaning up corruption in the Afghan government.

In this, Harman is in line with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who signaled yesterday that the president is unlikely to send more troops until the Afghan government cleans up its act.