Men in Afghanistan engaging in flattery of Trump are subject of threats or killed

KABUL, Afghanistan — Flattery of the U.S. president might work in North Korea and Washington, but in Afghanistan it is proving dangerous and even fatal.

An Afghan man who admired the president so much he legally named his son Donald Trump has said he no longer feels safe and has fled Afghanistan.

That came three days after another Afghan who helped organize the minting of a gold medal thanking President Donald Trump for his support of Afghanistan was killed by the Taliban, according to police officials in Logar province and to the insurgents themselves. A third Afghan, also involved in making the medal, said he, too, would flee the country because he no longer felt safe.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban, said in a statement on WhatsApp that the insurgents were responsible for the killing of Gul Nabi in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, in revenge for his “criminal” role in making the medal. Shapoor Ahmadzai, a spokesman for Logar Provincial Police, said Nabi, a prominent tribal elder in the province, had been killed by a bomb attached to the underside of his car Friday.

In January, Nabi and his friend Farhad Akbari, an Afghan Local Police commander in Logar, raised funds to create a medal out of gold to thank Trump for taking a critical stance against Pakistan, something many Afghans have long demanded, blaming that country for providing safe haven to the Taliban.

The Afghan Local Police are a lightly trained, pro-government militia force. Logar province has been heavily contested by the Taliban for years.

“Now the U.S. president recognizes that Pakistan plays a double game and he cut aid to Pakistan,” Akbari, 38, said in an interview in January. “We sent him that medal to show our unity and our appreciation.”

The men said they presented it to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Reached Sunday, Akbari said he was planning to flee to India because of the attack on Nabi.

“I don’t want to get killed like my friend, Hajji Gul Nabi,” he said. “My life is under threat.”

The U.S. Embassy did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the episodes.