On 24 May 1970, he led the battalion during an anti-government protest by the Islamic clergy in Pul-e Khishti Mosque, Kabul.

[4] As a mujahideen commander, Rahmatullah Safi operated in Paktia and Kunar provinces, taking part in the 1986 Zhawar fighting.

[3] In 1985 Safi led a delegation of mujaheddin to the United States, where the general spoke at colleges and universities in more than a dozen US cities.

[6] Safi was hospitalized in Pittsburgh in 1986 for cardiac evaluation tests; his medical bills were paid by donations and the Committee for a Free Afghanistan.

[7] In 1998, Safi was living in London, England, but departed to Afghanistan along with Nabi Misdak to convince Mullah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden to foreign authorities;[8] and he was considered the representative of the Taliban in Europe according to a United Nations Security Council press release.