[4][5][6] Muhammad Afzal Tahir was born on 4 January 1949 in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Punjab, Pakistan to a Punjabi family who belonged to the Arain tribe.

[7] After the partition that saw the establishment of Pakistan in August 1947, his father joined the Central Superior Services (CSS) and worked as Federal Secretary in various ministerial cabinets.

: xvi [9] He was trained as a surface warship officer and qualified as a naval aviator to fly the Alouette III of Pakistan Army board in the surface warships during the western front of the third war with India in 1971.: xvi [9] Lt. Tahir later saw combat action in the naval operations during the third war with India and served on the minesweepers as an executive officer.

[1] In 2000, Cdre Tahir was promoted as rear-admiral and moved to the Navy NHQ as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) and took participation in naval defense preparations during the military standoff between India and Pakistan in 2001.: xvi [9][10] Together with Admiral Shahid Karimullah, he lobbied for notably acquiring the second-strike nuclear capability and reportedly marked: Pakistan navy would soon have "a qualitative edge over a numerically superior enemy" meaning archrival India.

: xvi [9] He facilitated a visit of Lieutenant-General Earl B. Hailston of U.S. Marines at the Navy NHQ to hold talks on geo-strategic situation in South Asia.

: contents page [14] In October 2005, Admiral Tahir assumed the command of the Navy and had Vice-Admiral Haroon to serve on his capacity until retiring from his service.