- Joined
- Mar 8, 2023
I think the idea comes from the reverse direction. It's the common cope excuse whenever America fails in a conflict ("we would have won Vietnam/Afghanistan if not for those stupid rules of engagement!").
That's because you can't win a war without rules of engagement. If you show yourself to be more brutal and lawless to those who are meant to see you as a protector, more so if you are an invading force, the people you are trying to rescue will turn against you.
America were told from Day 1 of the Afghan conflict DO NOT GO KILLING PEOPLE WITHOUT REASON. They then went on to decimate the countryside, level mountains, kill children, murder innocents and even annihilate a few allied troops while they were out there.
That's nothing to mention the sheer insult to all sides of the conflict that was moving the withdrawal date. The most stupid move imaginable and they did it. If not for the Talibans' massive PR win thanks to that debacle, they would have slaughtered ten's of thousands of people and troops.