Treating Afghanis well was not only essential to the conduct of the campaign to win the intelligence war. I also began to see that it was essential for ourselves. The Taliban were often well trained, arguably often better trained to fight in Afghanistan than many American troops. So what makes us different from the Taliban? What distinguishes a warrior from a thug? Certainly it’s not the quality of our weapons or the length of our training. Ultimately we’re distinguished by our values. It would have been easy to abuse a prisoner, but any act of wanton personal brutality is not only
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