NEW YORK, April 20: Greg Mortenson, the best-selling author of “Three Cups of Tea” and another book that highlighted the need to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, is facing an imminent legal battle and a review from the publisher amid allegations that key stories in the books are false.

The expose on CBS Television’s programme, 60 minutes, has triggered a plethora of reports which have cast doubt on Mortenson’s stories and assertions.

In the book, Mortenson said he was captured by the Taliban and held for several days before being released. In the sequel, “Stones into Schools”, he even provided a photo of his kidnappers — 13 fierce-looking tribesmen, many of them brandishing guns.

Among them was Mansur Khan Mahsud, who directs a Pakistani think-tank specialising in research in Pakistan’s remote tribal regions. (Mahsud has done research for the New America Foundation, where Peter Bergen is a director.)

Mahsud told CNN on Monday that Mortenson was not kidnapped. He said Mortenson’s account of his trip to Waziristan, “is a pack of lies and not a single word of it is true”.

As a mountain climber whose near-death experience inspired a best-selling book and humanitarian mission, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Mortenson galvanised scores of adventure travelers to give back to the destinations they visited.

The CBS expose cited “Into the Wild” author Jon Krakauer as among the doubters of Mortenson’s story of being lost in rural Pakistan and stumbling upon the village of Korphe, where the kindness of locals inspired him to build a school.

The 60 Minutes story drew upon observations from the porters who joined Mortenson on his mountain trip in Pakistan and dispute his being lost. They say he only visited Korphe a year later.

Mortensen states in response: “I stand by the information conveyed in my book and by the value of CAI’s work in empowering local communities to build and operate schools that have educated more than 60,000 students.”

On its website, the Central Asia Institute posted responses to questions posed by 60 Minutes and said Mortenson’s “speeches, books and public appearances are the primary means of educating the American people on behalf of the institute.

CAI’s activities and Greg’s are closely intertwined, (and) CAI appropriately receives a greater benefit from Greg’s activities than Greg does himself.”