Cross-cultural communications breakdown.
I recall a TV documentary I watched about an American military officer trying to explain to an Afghan tribal chieftain (through an interpreter) why the Americans felt they had every right to be in his country. He showed the chief a photograph of the Twin Towers ablaze in Manhattan, and before the translator could explain, the chief pointed and asked "Kabul?".
All the man knew was that periodically, foreigners would invade his country; Russians, Taliban, Americans, for no good reason. He had no clue what was going on outside his village.