Three Cups of Tea and The Horse Soldiers

I just finished reading Bob's book, "The Horse Soldiers" about the Special Forces going to war in Afghanistan just after 9-11. While the book is about the warfare there are several references to the fact that one of their jobs is to rebuild the infrastructure. This was also promised in Iraq but got lost in the violence. There was a similar goal for the Green Berets in Vietnam. The problem as I see it is that in all cases where we enter a country with the best of intentions, given a hammer (as in overwhelming weaponry) all solutions involve nails (violence). Emotion overcomes logic. I can understand the emotion one goes through after seeing a comrade blown in two. But providing a reliable source of clean water and electricity out points blowing up civilians and their homes when it comes to convincing the civilian population that we are not invaders but different from the invaders over the past 1000 years.
This was the approach written about in "Three Cups of Tea". Greg was winning the hearts and minds of the locals one at a time without violence. Perhaps he spent 5% of his time worrying about the Taliban while devoting 95% of his time to building schools. This is about the reverse of what happens in in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal is the same but the strategy is different. War is a waste of people and other resources. Always was... always will be. And too many innocent people die needlessly.
War only reminds us that we're all on this flight together.

Dick