The Bangladesh Army has honoured the visiting Kuwait armed forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Khaled Al Khadher, by awarding him the "Bangladesh Army Friendship Medal" as a mark of friendship between the two countries. Bangladesh's Chief of Army Staff, Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, handed over the friendship medal to Lt Gen. Mohammad Khaled Al Khadher at a function at the Army Multipurpose Complex of the Army headquarters in Dhaka Cantonment yesterday. Lt. Gen. Mohammad Khaled Al Khadher is the second person to be given this award by the Bangladesh Army. Saudi armed forces chief of staff Gen. Abdul Rahman Bin Saleh Al-Banyan had received the award during his visit to Bangladesh on August 8 last year.

The ‘Bangladesh Army Friendship Medal’ was introduced last year for foreign military personnel who play a crucial role in developing relations between Bangladesh and the country concerned.

Born on October 4, 1955, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Khaled Al-Khadher served as a commando officer in the Kuwait army and rose in the chain of command from 1977 and reached the highest position in the army. He comes from a military family and has three younger brothers in the army.

He is married and has five children.

He had received the medal of a Commander of Legion of Honour from France in August 2016 for his outstanding support to the military ties between the two countries. He was also honoured by the Sudanese president, Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir, and was given the Medal of Nile in February 2017.

Lt. Gen. Mohammad Khaled Al Khadher yesterday lauded the Bangladesh Army for the rescue operation after the emergency landing of a Bangladesh Air Force helicopter carrying him and 15 others in Sreemangal on Wednesday. “I highly appreciate the Bangladesh Army for the rescue operation. They had arrived in only five minutes after the emergency landing,” he said.

He met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence on Wednesday. He also paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh Army chief of staff General Abu Belal Muhammad on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Mohammad Khaled, who led a 10-member military delegation, had paid floral tributes to Shikha Anirban (The Eternal Flame) at Dhaka Cantonment to pay homage to the martyrs of Bangladesh Armed Forces during the Liberation War in 1971.

The delegation members included Kuwait armed forces military education department head Maj. Gen. Anwar Jassem Al Mazid, Kuwait naval force commander Maj. Gen. Khaled Ahmed Abdullah, and Maj. Gen. Abdullah Abdus Samad Dashti.

The delegation arrived in Dhaka on Sunday and will return today (Friday).