The first part named the creation myth addresses the creation of Greg’s story in Baltistan, which according to Krakauer is a fake one. Krakauer simply refutes the narration of Greg Mortenson. At various places in his book Greg has mentions that after returning from a failed attempt of K2 in 1993 he lived in a small village called Korphe. But Krakauer contests this narration on page 8 of his book. He is of the view that Greg along with two others had walked down to Askole and from thereon they hired a jeep which took them to Skardu, the district capital. The author Jon Krakauer refers to Darsney, Greg’s fellow who returned with him after the failed attempt of K-2, who says that according to him he and Greg had stayed at Skardu for several days after the failed attempt. After that they hired a jeep and went to Khane, a village in the Hushe Valley. It is there where Greg proposed the construction of a school, as the village did not have one. Furthermore Mortenson mentions in his account that he had met Niamat Gul Mehsud for the first time in Peshawer, whereas Mahsud remembers meeting Mortenson in Rawalpindi, in front of the latter’s hotel. Greg shows in his book that he was kept hostage in South Wazairistan by the Taliban back in1996. However the author of Three Cups of Deceit makes it clear that the kidnapping story of Greg is entirely fabricated. He gives references of various credible people who surely believe that the story was fabricated. Naimat Gul one of his accomplices also believes that Greg had invented a false story.
The second section of the book is titled accountable to
no one. For the funding of his schools Greg believes that it does not matter
where the money comes from, as it is in the service of God. Known for not
returning phone calls and emails Mortenson also does not arrive on time for his
engagements. Karakauer has repeatedly referred to various instances when Mortenson
maintained this careless attitude. Mortenson said he had a salary of $28000 in
1995, but in reality he was drawing a salary of about $75000. This means
Mortenson was not honest about his salary. Further on page 30 the author
mentions that an article on Greg suggested that the schools constructed by Greg
helped in countering the influence of fundamentalist Madrassas. This question
further complicates and creates doubts about the authenticity of Greg’s story.
Mortenson in his first book narrates the story of a long conversation with King
Zahir Shah in 2003, in a PIA flight. Krakauer on inquiring from Zahir Shah’s
grandson made it clear that no such meeting had taken place. In fact his grandson
said that King Zahir Shah had never travelled on any PIA flight from 1973 to
2007. Hence Mortenson’s story seems to be made up. Not only that but Mortenson
used CAI’s credit cards and never produced any receipts for them. Mortenson
used chartered jets, received royalties from his books and also purchased
thousands of copies of his book for the attendees of his events. Along with
that Mortenson charges hefty amount of money when he speaks at events. He
charges $30,000 plus per event and travel expenses too.
The final part of the book is regarding the school
constructed by the Central Asian Institute headed by Greg Mortenson. Many of
the schools constructed by Greg, according to Krakauer, have turned into ghost
schools. Going on further Greg has referred in one of his books that Wahabbi
influence present in the region where he works is strong. But in all those
areas where his projects have been established there is no presence of Wahhabi
elements. The working mechanisms of CAI
are dubious. In 2010 when an auditor was asked to audit CAI finances, a fraudulent
document was produced by the CAI
staffers. Adding on to that Parvi from Baltistan, who resigned from CAI confessed to embezzle $50,000 from CAI . Further in the Three Cups of Deceit, the
gallstone attack on Safaraz Khan, the then program director northern Afghanistan
is covered in detail. Greg is alleged to have produced a tampered account of
the incident in his book. In 2007 with respect to an incident, Mortenson in one
of his email’s to Sarfaraz believed that, AKDN an international NGO, was
planting false rumors against CAI .
According to the author of Three Cups of Deceit the school in Boazai Gumbaz
Wakhan district, was built primarily for the sake of Greg’s book.
Jon Krakauer believes that Greg lied about his first
visit to Korphe, lied about eight day armed kidnapping by the Taliban and also bluffed
about the building of schools in areas which were on the frontline of war
against terror. In the concluding remarks the author has rightly made a remark considering
Greg as a murderer of his ‘own creation through his duplicity’.
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