5 preguntas a Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson has written a sequel to his 2006 best seller, Three Cups of Tea, about his efforts in Pakistan. Mortenson, 51, who lives in Montana, spoke with USA TODAY about Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

1. Explain the African proverb: "If you teach a boy, you educate an individual; if you teach a girl, you educate a community." Women who are educated are much less likely to condone their sons getting into terrorism.

2. Are you a pacifist? I'm a military veteran, but perhaps I am. I have tremendous respect for our military. They're way ahead of our State Department and political leaders.

3. Were you surprised by how the U.S. military embraced your first book? At first. Then I found out that the wives of the generals read it first and got their husbands to read it.

4. You say Americans have more to learn from the Afghan people than we can teach them. Like what? We've lost the tradition of learning from our elders. They haven't.

5. What's scarier: your kidnapping in Pakistan in 1996 or threats from fellow Americans? The ones here. Once, when I was in Pakistan, someone called my daughter, who was 6, at home, and said, "We're going to kill your daddy because he helps Muslim children." I thought about quitting.