Interview

• Who are you and what do you do? [0:50]
• What do you think the phrase “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” mean? [1:50]
• Who are the Taliban? [1:27]
• Why are US forces in Afghanistan? [1:04]

Scholars Online

Michael Bhatia

Watson Institute for International Studies
Brown University

Michael Bhatia was a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute in 2006-07 while completing his doctorate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. His areas of interest include Afghanistan, war, small arms, disarmament, and international development. His doctoral dissertation, entitled The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978-2005, is based on 350 interviews with combatants throughout Afghanistan, as well as archival and media research. He has conducted research in Afghanistan for the Overseas Development Institute, the Small Arms Survey, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the UK Department for International Development (via the International Policy Institute, King's College, London), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Bhatia is the author of War and Intervention: Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations (Kumarian Press, 2003). We mourn the death of Michael Bhatia in Afghanistan on May 7, 2008. Read the Watson Institute’s announcement in memory of Mike. He was our colleague and friend.

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