Abdul Malik Pahlawan was an Uzbek warlord from Faryab Province, Afghanistan.
Biography[]
Abdul Malik Pahlawan was born in Faryab Province, Afghanistan to an Uzbek family, and he once served as a subordinate to Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. However, he blamed Dostum for the murder of his brother Rasul Pahlawan, and, on 25 May 1997, he handed over Dostum to the Taliban and let the Taliban enter Mazar-i-Sharif. However, when the Taliban started to disarm his men, Pahlawan realized that the Taliban were going to renege on their agreement with him, so he rejoined the Northern Alliance and helped to push the Taliban from Mazar-i-Sharif. In September 1997, Dostum returned to Afghanistan and defeated Pahlawan, recapturing Mazar-i-Sharif before being forced to return to exile when the Taliban retook the city. After the fall of the Taliban, Pahlawan founded the Freedom Party of Afghanistan, whose armed militia regularly clashed with Dostum's Junbish-i-Milli forces.