You should talk to your friend again, politely, and ask him to reconsider. From my outisder perspective I see this brit's "justification v. understanding" dichotomy is a strawman argument and a deflection (besides being a false dichotomy). I have no problem in justifying or understanding this, why not? How about use the word "explain." The issue as I see it is whether he's telling the truth. What he offers is "understanding" or "justification" that fits his readers prejudices, semaphore for "don't look any further, your expectations are satisfied." It's self-serving.
His theory doesn't fit why the refugees were all smiles and happiness for him in the first place. Query, did he do something to incite this? Was he rude? Did he try to solicit anti-American or pro-taliban statements for his articles, thereby changing the refugees estimation of him? Were they just theives and he didn't want to sully his romantic love object? The story I see is not his explaining, but his explanation. Tell your brit friend the story smells of "bullocks" and ask him to speculate what really happened.