Sounds like one particular viewpoint that, while somewhat relevant, doesn't actually shed much light into this vastly different (both geographically and temporally) situation.
Don't close your mind just because you know of one instance of the thing being discussed; you anchor yourself to a specific point in time.
"Winning hearts and minds" isn't a bad thing on its own - NATO forces are objectively better than islamic extremists like ISIS and the Taliban - but acting like our military is wholly altruistic is naive at best and purposefully disingenuous at worst.
Don't close your mind just because you know of one instance of the thing being discussed; you anchor yourself to a specific point in time.