RICHMOND -- Virginia's senior U.S. senator said Wednesday that he has questions about specific conditions that would allow the United States to end its military commitment in Afghanistan and voiced concerns about the burden President Obama's troop buildup will have on already strained armed forces.

Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, voiced general support for the war plan Obama outlined in a speech Tuesday night, saying the administration has tried to "put the right sort of operational framework in place so that ... we can find a way to have an endpoint to our military commitment there, but in a way that's positive for our country and for the region."

But while some of his Senate colleagues fixated on Obama's July 2011 target date to begin withdrawing forces from Afghanistan, Webb told top administration officials during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that he wants a clearer picture of "the conditions that might bring about an endpoint to our involvement."

"My belief is that it's not as important to focus on a particular date as it is to reinforce the conditions under which we can have an endpoint, and it's something I have been saying for several months," Webb said during a conference call with reporters after the hearing.

"What we really need, and we still need, is clearly defined and attainable goals with an understandable endpoint," Webb said. "What I am going to be focusing on over the next couple of weeks is for them to clearly articulate the conditions under which this would be done. And maybe it could be done sooner. As soon as we can create the right sort of stability in the country, which is going to be difficult, then we should end our involvement. I don't believe in a long-term occupation."