Tip Drill

I just finished doing a few home-improvement chores, and sat down at my computer to read a little news. This is the item that caught my eye: "NATO chief warns of Afghan tipping point." Maybe some of my more discreet and urban readers are unfamiliar with the rural pastime of cow tipping. There is a point on all bovine (just below the knees) where they are most readily toppled.
Imagine my chagrin when I read on to find out that General David Richards, a British officer who commands NATO's 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press that he would like to have about 2,500 additional troops to form a reserve battalion to help speed up reconstruction and development efforts. The tipping point to which General Richards refers is this: "They (Afghans, not cows) will say, 'We do not want the Taliban but then we would rather have that austere and unpleasant life that might involve than another five years of fighting.'" If reconstruction doesn't begin, he estimates about seventy percent of Afghans could switch their allegiance from NATO to the Taliban.
While eight thousand U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan outside the control of NATO, the other twelve thousand are now under the command of General Richards as part of NATO's largest ground combat operation. Richards set a timetable of approximately six months to show progress toward rebuilding the country they are occupying. He seems to understand that there is more to this nation-building thing than blowing things up. Or tipping things over.