In 2011, a study was released entitled, A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility, which dealt with the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) murders of US and NATO forces. Common complaints by Afghans about the American soldiers were their cultural insensitivity and arrogance. These complaints manifested themselves in another common but more specific complaint, public urination by US troops. The report goes on to state that soldiers commonly urinate in front of women, exposing themselves.

After 11 years of war, Afghanistan is not any closer to being a stable country with an independent government. The key to any counterinsurgency strategy, as Lyndon B. Johnson stated in 1965 about Vietnam and has been echoed again and again, “The ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there.” Afghanistan has been called the “Graveyard of Empires,” and has a long history of resistance to occupation.

During the French occupation of Spain in the 19th century, the Spanish could not defeat the French militarily and were pushed back and punished each time. The Spaniards resistance came from locals without training who fought when possible and would disappeared in the villages. The fighters have come to be known as guerilleros and their warfare as guerrilla, or small war. Napoleon would later write, “That unfortunate war destroyed me.” The successful resistance to French military occupation was described as “the fabled lion who was tortured to death by a flea.”