It's an inside joke, industry circle jerk, trope, whatever you want to call it. That phrase or variations thereof dates to the soviet afghan war and is a gener

It's an inside joke, industry circle jerk, trope, whatever you want to call it. That phrase or variations thereof dates to the soviet afghan war and is a general reference to the futility of trying to beat an insurgency of people who are sufficiently dedicated to their cause. I'll see if I can find the OG source but search engines only seem to want to turn up more recent references to the US occupation thereof (it's hard to find unimportant niche things that predate the internet).