Lessons Not Learned from Afghanistan (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781662424007)

I am not an expert on foreign affairs, and I acknowledge that opinions are like assholes-everybody got one. In this book, I will share with you my experiences as an Afghanistan/Pakistan Hand (AFPAK Hand) member working in Afghanistan to train, advise, and assist the new government's national defense institutions on how to properly plan, program, budget, and execute funding in support of military and policing operations.

I found myself caught in the mist of what seemed to be our endless attempt at bad parenting. Some reasons people chose to do things the way they did, I still can't understand. You can point out countless clichés, but it all boiled down to a systemic trend of sending in poorly trained military advisors and ego-driven leaders at all levels. Compounding this fact was that many corrupt Afghan leaders had no desire to change or embrace advances in their system until they could figure out a way to effectively manipulate it, especially if the advances didn't serve their personal interest, greed, or some prefer calling it, "self-preservation."