The cheaper man

This means getting the best bang for the buck. But money also can work in favour of the most impoverished opponent:

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,
The troop-ships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap-alas! as we are dear.

Modern technology can achieve accurate battle supremacy but also with the extremely high risk of collateral non-combatant deaths, particularly during drone strikes. Some populist criticism of operations in Afghanistan demands increasingly superior weaponry, overlooking the need for a commensurately high level of care in employing any high-technology battle skill.

There are also the countering capabilities of guerrilla-style fighters who see themselves as the repellers of invading powers, and who will make use of improvised weapons such as explosive devices and all manner of booby traps to retaliate against well-equipped troops.

One aspect in the placing of booby traps is in exploiting natural human behaviours such as habit, self-preservation, curiosity or acquisitiveness. A common trick is to provide victims with a simple solution to a problem, for example, leaving only one door open in an otherwise secure building, thereby luring victims straight toward the firing mechanism.

An example that exploits an instinct for self-preservation was used in the Vietnam War. Spikes known as Punji sticks were hidden in grassy areas. When fired upon, soldiers instinctively sought to take cover by throwing themselves down on the ground, impaling themselves on these spikes.

It is a feature of modern warfare, particularly from the Vietnam campaign onwards, that the marked rise of skilled, opportunistic, low cost resistance forces who face the latest in modern weapon technology has bloomed. The emphasis is on Kipling's astute proposition that no matter how much more modern and better educated one side of a warring force may be, the odds are definitely on the side of 'The Cheaper Man'.