Greg Mortenson

It took Greg Mortenson eight hours to learn about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

Considering he was in a village of mud huts eight miles from the border with Afghanistan in northern Pakistan’s Charpusan Valley, it came pretty quick.

“We were about 85 miles from a phone; the word came by Jeep, foot, donkey and mule,” he said this week in his Bozeman home. “I call it ‘the buzz.’”

Residents of Zuudkhann, where Mortenson was building schools through his nonprofit Central Asia Institute, were worried about an immediate U.S. attack. They worried even more that the Taliban might attack, he said.

Villagers sympathized with him about what had happened in his country, but for a place with no phones, roads or even electricity, it was hard for people to understand the details, he said.

“Most of these people have never seen a skyscraper, and rarely see an airplane,” Mortenson said. “The only thing they can relate to is 5,000 people died; their whole valley would have been wiped out.”

Mortenson, 43, has been working on sustainable community-based projects in the mountainous region since the CAI was founded in 1993. Through his work, he has gained an understanding of the culture, and the politics, of the remote corner of the globe that has suddenly captured the world’s attention.

In the weeks following, Mortenson witnessed thousands of Afghan refugees trying to enter Pakistan because they feared U.S. bombing. The border had been closed, but many slipped through over mountain passes.

He also saw a lot of young men going to join the Taliban. Mortenson said many of them do so not out of hate of the United States, but for economic reasons.

“At least a handful that I talked to said if they had a job, they wouldn’t join the Jihad (holy war),” he said. “The seeds of terrorism are unemployment, lack of education, poverty and inequity.”

Young men get a $300 bonus for signing up with the Taliban, three weeks of military training and a job. He said that’s motivation enough in a country with high unemployment and rampant poverty.

Still, Mortenson said he supports the U.S. military action in Afghanistan, because the hard-line members of the Taliban are brutal and oppressive. Mortenson knows many people whose family members have been killed by the Taliban.

The regime’s barring of young girls from education is exactly what his CAI is trying to combat by building schools, including a few in Afghanistan.

“The only way it’s going to change for those women is through the schools,” said Jack Tackle, a Bozeman mountaineer who has traveled to Pakistan several times. “(Mortenson) is providing a mechanism by which there’s education on both sides — education about Americans there and education for us about Pakistan.”

But Mortenson said he would like to see more cooperation between the military campaign and the United Nations’ humanitarian efforts.

The Afghan people are facing famine after years of drought. Mortenson said the bombing campaign has made it difficult to get food in before winter, and he predicts a catastrophe in January.

“You’ve got to feed them to gain their trust,” he said.

That could push many Afghans, including some Taliban supporters, over the border into Pakistan, Mortenson said. Although western Pakistan has some Taliban sympathizers who would welcome them, most Pakistanis do not support Osama bin Laden.

“The majority of the people would like to see him out of there,” Mortenson said. “He’s disrupted the entire region.”

Mortenson said in the wake of Sept. 11, donations to his institute are down 25 percent compared to last year. Yet many long-term supporters are still committed, and CAI has picked up a few new donors.

“Your work seems as good a way as any to fight terrorism,” wrote Sandra Dallas from Denver, Colo., who became a first-time donor this fall.

Mortenson returned to Bozeman in late October. On a flight to Saudi Arabia on the way home, he sat next to a Pakistani man traveling to get cash for the Jihad. Mortenson found that ironic because he himself was heading home to raise cash for his school projects.

“We had tea and talked; what else can you do?” he said.

Mortenson plans to return to the region in February to continue his work.

Nick Gevock is at ngevock@dailychronicle.com

Copyright (c) 2002 Bozeman Chronicle