War is made "civilized" by rules of engagement. This is where two countries, who obviously have a serious difference of opinion, decide to get together around a table and work out the rules they will "play" by as they try to cripple each other by killing off as many of the opposing forces as possible, in an orderly manner, of course.
Consider your situation as Canadian soldier in Afghanastan, however. You are part of a renewed offensive against the Taliban, however, you must do all you can to avoid killing civilians, and rightly so; far too many have died already. So when you are faced with a threat, it is incumbent upon you to first ask the person whether he is Taliban or not before shooting him. That may be tungue in cheek, but it doesn't fall far from the truth.
Suppose, however, you are a Taliban fighter. He doesn't care whether he kills civilians or not, his attitude is "kill them all, Allah will know his own", (I wonder who he learned that from). He also doesn't wear a uniform, instead, he tries to look as much like an innocent civilian as he can, and will continue to do so until the soldier with the red maple leaf on his shoulder asking what he is gets close enough, where upon he will pull out his gun and shoot him. Doesn't seem quite fair does it.
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