The phrase "a powerful warlord" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a person who has significant influence, control, or authority, particularly in a military or political context.
Example: "In the story, the protagonist must confront a powerful warlord who rules over the region with an iron fist."
Alternatives: "a formidable leader" or "a dominant chieftain."
…remained under a powerful warlord, Yan Xishan, who retained control from 1913 to 1948.
After 1911 Shanxi remained under a powerful warlord, Yan Xishan, who retained control from 1913 to 1948.
Once, in Kabul, the President scheduled fifteen minutes for Ismail Khan, a powerful warlord from western Afghanistan.
More significantly, analysts said, it was the second occasion in less than a month that a powerful warlord had provoked an armed confrontation with the government.
Not long before, there had been the debacle in Somalia where a US-led UN humanitarian operation turned into a bloody conflict against a powerful warlord.
The narrator must also contend with a rival, a powerful warlord, known as the warden, who is the head of an insurgency that is somehow involved in the global chaos.
It has made a string of failed deals with South Waziristan's most powerful warlord, Baitullah Mehsud, a former fitness instructor and enemy of Mr Nazir.
He and his family were then held for ransom by a powerful Chinese warlord.
Mr. Faisal named Lieutenant Farid as the shooter, noting that he is the son of a powerful local warlord, the former jihadi commander Gen. Mohammad Leqaa Andarabi, who is also a former police chief in Baghlan Province.
They surprised military officials by quickly vanquishing a pro-government militia stationed in the Tirah, and by forging an opportunistic alliance with a powerful local warlord, Mangal Bagh, who had previously fought the Taliban.
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai named a powerful former warlord as one of his two vice-presidential running mates on Monday, a day of scattered insurgent attacks that left as many as 26 people dead.
