all of them insist they're not taliban and that greg mortenson was not kidnapped. gave us another photo of the group with mortenson holding the ak-47. one of the men, mansur khan mahsud, is the research director of a respected think tank in islamabad and has produced scholarly articles published in the u.s. until recently, he had no idea that he had been shown as a kidnapper in a best-selling book. >> that's me. >> we spoke with mahsud via skype. he told us that he and the other people in the photograph were mortenson's protectors in waziristan, not his abductors. the story, as mr. mortenson tells it, is that he was held for eight days and won you over by asking for a koran and promising to build schools in the area. is that true? >> this is totally false, and he is lying. he was not kidnapped. >> who are these people that are also in the picture? >> some are my cousin. some are our friends from our village. >> well, why do you think mr. mortenson would write this? >> to sell his book. [ticking] >> coming up, greg mortenson under fire from his former board treasurer

it's the story of greg mortenson, the mountaineer who produced "three cups of tea." reshmen, but then a former supporter got suspicion of mortenson's role. he accused him of not only fabricating stories but also of mishandling his foundation's money to support his book promotion instead of putting that money into building schools. >> you have said that you made mistakes, there were lots of questions about accounting that go well beyond just mistakes. >> i always have operated from my heart. and i really didn't factor in the very important things of accountability, transparency. >> we found there are serious questions. >> reporter: "60 minutes" did a story and mortenson's life went into a tail spin. he was forced off the board, and while an investigation found no criminal wrong doing, mortenson was ordered to pay back $1 million and questions remain what is true in the popular book. >> what i regret is we were under tremendous pressure to bring 1 million words down to 3,000 words. >> no alarms went off in your mind? didn't you think, that's not exactly how it happened?

[ticking] >> greg mortenson's book three cups of tea is a publishing phenomenon that has made him a celebrity-like figure

this morning, greg mortenson breaks his silence to tom brokaw. >> you think to yourse,