 In any case, it was probably al-Qadir who gave Khalaf his "laqab" of Wali 'l-Dawla.Khalaf also conducted a campaign to retake Bust and Zamindawar.These had been virtually lost to the Saffarids during Abu'l-Husayn Tahir's rule; the local Turks had been more or less independent before the Ghaznavid Sebuktigin conquered the region in c. 978.