Worldview: Hoping the message and works of author are not tarnished

I've long been an admirer of Greg Mortenson, the author of the phenomenal best-seller Three Cups of Tea. The book tells how he began building girls' schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan after making a pledge to the villagers of Korphe, who had rescued him from a failed attempt to summit the world's second-highest peak, K-2.

To see his work, I traveled with Greg in 2007 to visit schools he'd built in a remote valley in Pakistani Kashmir. As we bumped along dirt roads, this huge bear of a man talked passionately about the importance of girls' education. I met with Pakistani teachers who praised him, and with devoted members of the Pakistani staff of his school-building nonprofit charity, the Central Asia Institute (CAI). In later years, I also met Afghan elders who acclaimed his efforts.

I've cheered his work in several columns, one of which was quoted in a blurb on the jacket of his second book, Stones into Schools. I've also watched huge American audiences devour his rambling, passionate lectures on the need for more girls' schools in poor countries.

This plea has garnered tens of millions of dollars for his institute, including $1.7 million collected by schoolkids in 2009 for Pennies for Peace (P4P), a program to buy school supplies for Afghan and Pakistani children.

So it was disturbing to watch a 60 Minutes exposé last week - and to read an online booklet by author Jon Krakauer, once a Mortenson fan - that accused Greg of lying in his books and of financial misfeasance. Among the allegations: that the Korphe story was untrue; that many of the 141 schools he supposedly built do not exist or are no longer functioning; and that his charity spends more on promoting his book and his lectures than on building schools.

In a written response to 60 Minutes, Greg says he stands by the facts in his books. His assistant Jeff McMillan told me by phone Thursday that Greg will publicly address all issues, and document all of his schools, once he recovers from a surgical procedure next week to repair heart damage. McMillan says the issue of accounting transparency will also be addressed.

I certainly hope so, because the Greg Mortenson phenomenon has become much larger than this larger-than-life man.