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60 Minutes: Three Cups of Tea Fabricated

Charity took credit for schools that don't exist.

A 60 Minutes investigation that aired Sunday night on CBS, alleges that do-gooding sensation Greg Mortenson's bestselling book, Three Cups of Tea, is riddled with factual inaccuracies, and that his charity organization has taken credit for schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan that don't exist. The book tells the story of a mountain climbing trip in 1993 on which Mortenson supposedly got lost and stumbled upon the village of Korphe, where local residents inspired him to build a school. Now, porters who accompanied him say he was never lost, and went back to the village a year after his first trip. Mortenson also claims to have been kidnapped by the Taliban, but all the men in a photo from the supposed kidnapping are not actually Taliban, and say they never harmed Mortenson. The 60 Minutes report alleges that many of the 170 schools Mortenson claims to have started were built by others, stand empty, or have barely received any assistance from his organization, which spends most of its money on outreach and Mortenson's speaking tours. Mortenson said he "condensed" parts of his stories, but stands by the book. "Don’t let NYC sensational TV mess with Montana, or the tens of thousands of girls and boys we empower through education, our supporters will rally!” he wrote to his staff.