Afghanistan: The Perfect Failure

Lieutenant Colonel John Lewis Cook, United States Army (Retired), “served as the Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Interior in Kabul, Afghanistan, with responsibility for developing the force structure for the entire Afghan National Police.  As of 2012, this force totals 157,000.  From March 2008 until August 2012, his access and intimate associations with all levels of the Afghan government and coalition forces have provided him with an unprecedented insight into the policies which will determine the outcome of the war.  It is this insight, coupled with his contacts and associations throughout Afghanistan that form the basis of Afghanistan: The Perfect Failure.

John Cook graduated with a B.A. from the University of Delaware & has a Master’s Degree from Boston University.  He is considered an expert in counterinsurgency, having written doctrine on this subject for the US Army Intelligence Center & School.  He is the recipient of the Silver Star, 3 Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Vietnamese Medal of Honor and several other combat and peacetime awards..

John Cook is not new to war zones.  In addition to 4 1/2 years in Afghanistan, he spent over 2 years in Vietnam as an intelligence officer & became the youngest District Senior Advisor in Vietnam.  He was one of the first intelligence officers in Vietnam responsible for the implementation of the Phoenix Program, the most successful counterinsurgency program ever initiated by the U.S. military.  Upon his return from Vietnam, he authored The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in Vietnam, recognized as one of the premier texts on defeating insurgences, now in its third edition. He has served as the publisher and editor for the Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Journal.