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PROVO -- A Montana man who has devoted much of his life to fighting terrorism through education spoke at BYU Tuesday.
Greg Mortensen first stumbled into a remote Pakistani village back in 1993 after a mishap on K2. He soon learned few children in the village ever attended school, especially if they were girls.
"We can drop bombs, we can build roads, we can put in electricity, we can put in computers; but unless girls are educated, a society will never change," Mortenson told students.
He said girls aren't allowed to get an education in many Muslim communities. A big reason for that is men need permission from their mothers to go on a jihad for groups like the Taliban.
"They're primarily targeting illiterate, impoverished society; because many educated women refuse to allow their son to join the Taiban or an extremist group," Mortenson explained.
Hoping to stop the spread of terrorist ideals, Mortenson has spent his life building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also wrote the book "Three Cups of Tea."
