Malak

Malak (Afghani: "Angel") is a Mujahideen fighter who was captured by the Soviets and later rescued by Venom Snake and Diamond Dogs, whom he later joined.

Biography
While undergoing a mission for the Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan war, Malak's home village was wiped out by a plague, with it being burned down to the ground shortly thereafter, thus leaving him the sole survivor of his home town as a result. He then witnessed some suspicious troops snooping around the village in the aftermath of his village's destruction. Some time later, in 1984, Malak was captured by the Soviet forces, and initially held prisoner at Lamar Khaate Palace. Diamond Dogs, via Venom Snake, was hired by an unknown client claiming to be a friend of Malak's father (who claimed that his village perished as a result of the Soviets' Scorched Earth Operation and that Malak was captured around the same time) who requested that they rescue Malak as his father's dying wish. However, by the time Venom Snake got to Lamar Khaate Palace, he learned that Malak had actually been transferred before Snake got there, although Diamond Dogs managed to narrow down his location from both various rescued POWs from the site and some intel files left behind to Yakho Oboo supply outpost. Snake eventually found Malak, although the brutality of his imprisonment left him severely injured enough that Snake had to extract him directly via helicopter, as the Fulton had the high risk of killing him from the shock. Upon returning to Mother Base, the deputy commander Benedict Miller reported that Malak revealed that not only had he never heard of their client, but also the real reason why his village was destroyed. His description of the troops caused Miller to realize that the troops were most likely XOF, the strike force for Cipher. Miller also suspected that their "client" was most likely tied to Cipher, if not was Cipher itself in an attempt to clean up loose ends, and that Cipher most likely intended to either interrogate or otherwise silence Malak for his discovery before the Soviets could get to him, but were forced to hire Diamond Dogs when they couldn't get to him in time. As such, Miller, to protect Malak, faked his death by claiming via cut out that he was killed in the rescue attempt (although he noted that their client suspiciously gave them the payment they were owed despite this setback), and also let Malak join their organization since he didn't have a home or family to go back to due to his village's destruction and because they shared a common goal of revenge against Cipher for the organization's role in personal losses (as Diamond Dogs was created to exact revenge against Cipher for their role in the destruction of their predecessor organization, the Militaires Sans Frontières, nine years prior).

Behind the scenes
Malak is a key character from the main mission "Angel with Broken Wings" in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.