Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer. He is the author of bestselling non-fiction books—Into the Wild; Into Thin Air; Under the Banner of Heaven; and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman—as well as numerous magazine articles. He was a member of an ill-fated expedition to summit Mount Everest in 1996, one of the deadliest disasters in the history of climbing Everest.
Mary BonoOswald is an American politician, businesswoman, and lobbyist who served Palm Springs and most of central and eastern Riverside County, California, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1998 to 2013.
Jean Amédée Hoerni was a Swiss-born American engineer. He was a silicon transistor pioneer, and a member of the "traitorous eight". He developed the planar process, an important technology for reliably fabricating and manufacturing semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits.
Patrick Daniel Tillman Jr. was an American professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) who left his sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. His service in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as his subsequent death, received national attention, especially so when it was discovered he had been killed by friendly fire.
Wakhan, or "the Wakhan", is a rugged, mountainous part of the Pamir, Hindu Kush and Karakoram regions of Afghanistan. Wakhan District is a district in Badakshan Province.
Jeffrey B. Fager is an American television producer who is the former chairman of CBS News and former executive producer of 60 Minutes.
The culture of Pakistan is based in the Indo-Persian cultural matrix that constitutes a foundation plank of South Asian Muslim identity. The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia. There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices.
Greg Mortenson is a disgraced American professional speaker, writer, veteran, and former mountaineer. He is a co-founder and former executive director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute and the founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace.
Central Asia Institute (CAI) is an international non-profit organization, co-founded by Greg Mortenson and Jean Hoerni in 1996. The organization is based in Bozeman, Montana and works to promote and support community-based education throughout Central Asia, primarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan, by building schools, supporting teacher-training programs, and funding school scholarships.
George Washington Crile III was an American journalist most closely associated with his three decades of work at CBS News. He specialized in dangerous and controversial subjects, resulting in both praise and controversy. He received an Emmy Award, Peabody Award, and Edward R. Murrow Award.
On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Night Stalkers", and the CIA's Special Activities Division, which heavily recruits from former JSOC Special Mission Units. The success of the operation ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Atossa Leoni is an actress who has worked internationally in film, television, and theater since childhood.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time is a memoir book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin published by Penguin in 2007. The book describes Mortenson's transition from a registered nurse and mountain climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and elevating education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following the beginnings of his humanitarian efforts, Mortenson co-founded the Central Asia Institute (CAI), a non-profit group that has reported overseeing the construction of over 171 schools as of 2010. CAI reported that these schools provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where few education opportunities previously existed.
Pennies for Peace is a program sponsored by Central Asia Institute, in which school children in the United States raise pennies to help fund CAI's educational projects. The program focuses on raising cross-cultural awareness through education to promote peace.
Korphe is a small subsistence farming village in northeastern Pakistan, situated at the foot of the Karakoram mountain range along the banks of the Braldu River.
Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way is a 2011 e-book written by Jon Krakauer about Three Cups of Tea (2007) and Stones into Schools (2009) author Greg Mortenson. In it, Krakauer disputes Mortenson's accounts of his experiences in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and accuses him of mishandling funds donated to his charity, Central Asia Institute ("CAI").
David Oliver Relin was an American journalist and the co-author of the New York Times best-selling book, Three Cups of Tea, published in 2006. Relin co-wrote the book with Greg Mortenson. The book gives Mortenson's account of his transition from registered nurse and mountain-climber to humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Haldi also Halde or Huldi is a village in Ghanche District of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Haldi is a historic village of Baltistan, located at the meeting place of Saltoro river and Hushe River 28 km from district centre Khaplu.
The military relations between Pakistan and the United States have been present since the two established diplomatic relations in 1947. The United States and Pakistan's military have historically close ties and it was once called "America's most allied ally in Asia" by Dwight D. Eisenhower, reflecting shared interests in security and stability in South Asia, Central Asia as well as in regions covering Eastern Europe.
