Authorities: 'Three Cups of Tea' co-author committed suicide

Video: Author defends ‘Three Cups of Tea’ memoir

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   >> author and humanitarian is under fire amid allegations that he fabricated stories his memoir. andrea mitchell has the latest details. good morning.

   >> reporter: good morning, meredith. the questions are being asked about greg mortenson , author of "three cups of tea" who has sold millions of books about his work with girls in afghanistan . he's been the hero of the movement to educate girls in afghanistan and pakistan. soldiers deploying to afghanistan are encouraged to read his book. president obama donated part of his nobel prize money to the charity. mike mullen traveled with him and tells the story of the dramatic attempt to climb k-2 and the pledge to his rescuers.

   >> he looked for a way to repay his rescuers and realized what they wanted and needed most was a school.

   >> reporter: it is a story mortonsen told again to natalie morales on "today.."

   >> coming off the mountain i stumbled into a village and saw 78 children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand. i promised to build a school.

   >> reporter: as "60 minutes" reported he didn't hear of the village until his second visit a year after the climb. he was not kidnapped by the taliban . he did build schools but critics say not as many as he claimed. author john krakauer donated to the charity until he got suspicion writing, he's lied about the deeds he's done, the people he met, the number of schools he built. a watchdog group says the charity paid for charter planes and other questionable expenses.

   >> in 15 years they have had only one audited financial statement which came out last fall.

   >> reporter: mortonson is now ducking television articles.

   >> i need to sign these books now.

   >> reporter: he told "outside" magazine, there were some omissions and compressions. there are discrepancies that, again, have to do with compression of events. acknowledging he took literary license.

   >> the standards for nonfiction are clear. you don't compress to the point of telling a story that isn't true relative to what happened. that happened in this case.

   >> reporter: nbc news learned there could be a problem with his second book "stones into schools kwl schools" also a book seller in which he describes this man as a former taliban fighter. when nbc news interviewed him two years ago we could not verify his taliban connection so didn't broadcast the story. other advocates for afghan girls worry the issue will hurt the cause.

   >> the issue of girls' education is more important than any one individual.

   >> reporter: mortonson says the critics are inaccurate but his publisher issued a statement saying they will review the materials with the author. meredith?

   >> thank you very much. just

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