Michael Bhatia


Michael Vinay Bhatia was a researcher studying conflict resolution in war-torn countries. He was born in Upland, California. He attended Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations in 1999. He was the recipient of the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship and a Marshall Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford where he earned his M.Sc. in International Relations in 2002. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and a lecturer at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Bhatia was killed on May 7, 2008 in Khost Province, Afghanistan where he was serving as a social scientist in consultation with the US Defense Department. On May 16, 2008, by order of Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Bhatia was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom posthumously.

Research and work

Bhatia's work concentrated on conflict resolution in war-torn countries. His research and humanitarian work brought him to the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria, East Timor, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.
Besides published works which Bhatia wrote and edited, he was working on a doctoral dissertation, "The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978–2004" when he died.
Bhatia's field work had taken him to Khost Province, where he was working on resolutions to inter-tribal conflicts concerning land rights as part of the pilot Human Terrain System program with the U.S. Army's 82d Airborne Division.
It has been estimated by US military personnel that Bhatia's Human Terrain Team helped one brigade reduce its killings by 60 to 70%, increase the number of districts supporting the Afghan government from 15 to 83, and reduce Afghan civilian deaths from over 70 during the previous brigade's tour to 11.
Bhatia's human terrain studies, work, and his death are the subject of part three in the documentary , directed by James Der Derian.

Death

Bhatia was assigned to the Afghanistan Human Terrain Team #1, in support of Task Force Currahee based at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost Province. His team was making an initial mission into a remote area of Khost province where they intended to initiate a negotiation process between tribes. He was killed when the Humvee he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device. Two soldiers from Task Force Currahee were also killed in the attack, and two others were critically injured.

Commentary

List of works