Actually I think it was really good at showing exactly that. The young Pakistani guy was just a pawn in the game controlled by somebody way above, whom we don't

Actually I think it was really good at showing exactly that. The young Pakistani guy was just a pawn in the game controlled by somebody way above, whom we don't even see in the movie. His immediate superior in the militant ranks, the Arab, looks clearly more educated than he is. That is exactly how these terrorist organizations are structured.