Hekmatyar Says He Is Ready to Send Islamic Party Fighters to Saudi Arabia

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Afghanistan’s Islamic Party, said in a message on the social media platform X that the party is ready to send forces to Saudi Arabia to “protect the shrines,” remarks that have raised questions about whether such a move would be feasible, given the lack of any clear report of an active military structure within the Islamic Party.

In the message, Hekmatyar wrote: “We are ready to send the mujahideen of the Islamic Party to Saudi Arabia to protect the shrines.” He also claimed that the Islamic Party had previously sent forces outside the country to “defend Islamic sanctities.”

The Islamic Party leader also cited the dispatch of forces to Azerbaijan as an example and added: “As believers, we always bear this responsibility; we do not put anyone under obligation, nor do we ask for anything in return.”

Published accounts of the Islamic Party’s cross-border activities have also referred to the presence of forces affiliated with the party in the Azerbaijan-Armenia war. Those reports have also said that part of these forces took part in the fighting within informal structures, a matter that has also drawn criticism.

Hekmatyar’s latest position comes as he has in recent months entered a phase of open disputes with the Taliban administration and has repeatedly sharply criticized its policies. However, no clear information has been provided about his current whereabouts, and the Islamic Party has not published any report in recent months on the existence of a coherent military structure.

At the same time, some interpretations suggest that raising such a subject could be an effort to highlight the Islamic Party’s political role in regional equations, especially amid rising tensions in the region, with the original text also referring to recent threats against Saudi Arabia.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is considered one of the controversial figures in Afghanistan’s modern history. In the 1990s, during the civil wars following the سقوط of the communist government, he was one of the main actors in the conflict, and the forces under his command repeatedly targeted Kabul with rocket attacks; attacks that led to widespread destruction of the capital, the killing and injuring of thousands of civilians, and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.