CHAPTER 23
STONES INTO SCHOOLS
Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; The air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun….

CHAPTER 22
“THE ENEMY IS IGNORANCE”
As the U.S. confronts Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, Greg Mortenson, 45, is quietly waging his own campaign against Islamic fundamentalists, who often recruit members through religious schools called madrassas. Mortenson’s approach hinges on a simple idea: that by building secular schools and helping to promote education—particularly for girls—in the world’s most volatile war zone, support for the Taliban and other extremist sects eventually will dry up.
—Kevin Fedarko,  —Kevin Fedarko,  Parade cover story, April 6, 2003 cover story, April 6, 2003

CHAPTER 21
RUMSFELD’S S SHOES
Today in Kabul, clean-shaven men rubbed their faces. An old man with a newly-trimmed grey beard danced in the street holding a small tape recorder blaring music to his ear. The Taliban—who had banned music and ordered men to wear beards—were gone.
—Kathy Gannon, November 13, 2001, reporting for the Associated Press

CHAPTER 20
TEA WITH THE TALIBAN
Nuke ’Em All—Let Allah Sort Them Out.
—Bumper sticker seen on cab window of Ford-F150 pickup truck in Bozeman, Montana

CHAPTER 19
A VILLAGE CALLED NEW YORK
The time of arithmetic and poetry is past. Nowadays, my brothers, take your lessons from the Kalashnikov and rocket-propelled grenade.
—Graffiti spray-painted on the courtyard wall of the Korphe School

CHAPTER 18 - SHROUDED FIGURE
Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass.
God does not change. Patience achieves everything.
—Mother Teresa

CHAPTER 17 - CHERRY TREES IN THE SAND
The most dangerous place in the world today, I think you could argue, is the Indian Subcontinent and the Line of Control in Kashmir.
—President Bill Clinton, before leaving Washington on a diplomatic visit to, and peacemaking mission between, India and Pakistan

CHAPTER 16 - RED VELVET BOX
No human, nor any living thing, survives long under the eternal sky. The most beautiful women, the most learned men, even Mohammed, who heard Allah’s own voice, all did wither and die. All is temporary. The sky outlives everything. Even suffering.
—Bowa Johar, Balti poet, and grandfather of Mouzafer Ali

CHAPTER 15
MORTENSON IN M MOTION
Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection.
—Rabindranath Tagore