No better offer (Three Cups of Tea post 2)

Along the way, post 9/11, Greg Mortenson was introduced to a young man named Hashmatullah, who was released from the Taliban army when he was wounded. Greg said "Hash" was a "jihadi in theory only. He was a smart guy who would much rather have worked as a telecommunications technician than a Taliban fighter, if a job like that had been available. But the Taliban offered him three hundred dollars when he graduated from his madrassa... so he reported for weapon training."

Some madrassa schools are funded with Saudi oil money and run by the Taliban. These schools provide an education to the poorest students who could not otherwise afford the uniforms and supplies to attend school. You can see how the natural progression for graduates from these schools would be to enlist in the Taliban army because they are not presented with other viable options.

Hash's story blew my mind. Contrary to popular belief, many Taliban fighters are not truly militant America-haters. These poor students see a job with the Taliban as a pretty good offer, not having the training or education to search for a real job.

Getting back to the subtitle of the book, "One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time." Greg believes that the Taliban will disappear in a generation or two if the poor Muslim children are given a decent education. This isn't his goal (he tries to stay out of politics). It is just a byproduct of providing quality education. The disheartening thing is that the madrassas are popping up faster than his non-profit, the Central Asia Institute, can build schools. So in a sense, it is a losing battle. Greg refuses to take money from the US government, because he would lose credibility in the Muslim world if he were associated with the US government. So he is dependent completely on donations. At this point, he does have donations coming in from around the world. But still, it is difficult to compete with the fortunes of Saudi oil companies.

More to come...