By Sandy Fitzgerald
ISIS is reaching more deeply into Afghanistan by transmitting extremist propaganda over the radio with "lots of revolutionary propaganda and fatwas" into the country's urban centers through its "Voice of the Caliphate" broadcasts, according to an Afghan official.
"If something is not done, it will have very serious consequences," Achin district Gov. Haji Ghalib told NBC News.
The radio is the primary means of mass media in Afghanistan, as most people do not have televisions. Meanwhile, the Taliban, which often uses its own communication unit to make announcements or threats, has not yet been able to penetrate into Afghanistan's cities.On Friday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned about ISIS penetrating into Afghanistan, saying that there are "little nests" of the extremist group springing up around the world, including in Afghanistan.
ISIS has also been stepping up its attacks on Afghan security forces in Nangarhar province, where the city of Jalalabad is located.
ISIS fighters are also luring member of the Taliban into their ranks, reports NBC, and the two rival militant groups are clashing, and the news that ISIS radio is now being heard in Jalalabad is scaring some who have fled the fighting between the groups.
"We heard about [ISIS] radio a few days ago and for the past two nights I have been listening to it," Azizullah, who like many Afghans uses just one name and now lives in a camp for displaced people.
"It has become the talk of the camp, he continued. "People are afraid, we have seen their brutality and know very well how serious this is."
The transmissions are coming in from Pakistan, Afghan officials say, but Pakistani officials deny that claim.
However, a senior commander for the Taliban said his fighters have heard the ISIS broadcasts, and told NBC that the Taliban does not have the resources it needs to compete with ISIS.
"Even then we are successful in our job and people listen to us," said the commander, on condition of anonymity. "We have installed transmitters in different places but we used to change the location of the transmitters and radio stations from time to time for security reasons."
The news of ISIS' broadcasts also comes after its media arm declared Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan where one region named Khorasan, taking the name of an ancient province of the Persian Empire. covers part of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and India.
According to the Associated Press, the designation follows other provinces ISIS has established, including the Sinai Province in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
"I think ISIL is really trying to establish a base in Nangarhar ... and establish Jalalabad as the base of the Khorasan Province," Gen. John F. Campbell, the U.S. commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told AP. People who have fled the four Nangarhar districts say ISIS is waging a reign of terror, including forced marriages, extortions, evictions, and even killings with buried bombs.