I suspect it is a nasty way of getting your people involved in a war, even when they don't want to be.

How many times will the US troop be gunned down when taking out what they thought was a surrender, or the US fire on a white flag, thinking it to be the Afghan flag, only to be told by a 'grieving' Taliban rep that it was a surrender flag?

If you know that a flag of surrender is white, you'll wave it. If you don't know that your country had introduced a new flag, and that also is white, what are you going to do? It is a very nasty way of doctoring the figures for both innocent victims and martyrs to the cause.

LTS