Assumptions

The first big mistake Westerners tend to make is that they see the war in terms of cowboys-and-Indians or cops-and-robbers. There's the good guys and the bad guys. You help the good guys and kill the bad guys. An American Special Forces soldier was heard to remark that the only reason he was there and his only mission was to kill as many Taliban as possible. But who are the Taliban? Ah, if he only knew.