NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump has become the unlikely recipient of a 'Medal of Bravery', which has been bestowed on him by 300 Afghans, for his tough stance on Pakistan , reported RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

"This Bravery Medal is from the Afghan people to Donald Trump, president of the United States of America," says the inscription on the medal, made with funds collected by Afghans from the Logar province, which is 60 kilometres south of Kabul.

Said Farhad Akbari, a community leader, told RFE/RL that members of the community have "waited 16 years" for someone in the US administration to make comments of the sort that Trump has made in recent weeks concerning Pakistan.

Trump, in his first tweet of 2018, on January 1, roundly berated Pakistan for giving the US "lies and deceit" in return for the $33 billion it has received in aid over the last 15 years. Days after his tweet, the US announced it was suspending some $2 billion in assistance to Pakistan until it did more to fight terrorism and stopped providing safe haven to the Taliban and other terrorists.

The Afghan people, of course, have been at the receiving end of this terror, which is why many of them appreciated Trump's verbal blasting of Pakistan. The government in Kabul has long accused Pakistan of backing and sheltering militants who carry out attacks on their soil. Logar's Akbari said he himself has been fighting Taliban extremists in the southeastern part of the province for years.

Akbari added that the decision to award Trump a 'Medal of Bravery' was made at an informal 'jirga', or council of residents. The medal, he said, is made of 15 grams of gold, crafted by hand, and cost 45,000 Afghanis, or $645, no small amount in this war-torn country. All the money came from residents in Logar.

The medal was handed over to the US Embassy in Kabul on Saturday. Akbari said the US Ambassador John R. Bass has promised he will soon hand over the medal to Trump.

The US President began his broadsides against Pakistan in August, when he lambasted it for providing "safe haven to agents of chaos and terror".

In his first tweet of 2018, the US President kept up the momentum.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," tweeted Trump.



In Video: 'Medal of Bravery'awarded to Donald Trump by 300 Afghans