Enigmatic radio broadcasts fuel fears of Islamic State influence in Afghanistan

Preoccupied with the Taliban’s resurgence, Afghanistan hasn’t spent much time worrying over potential threats from the Islamic State (ISIS). But in recent months, ISIS influence has steadily crept in. The arrival of a mysterious radio broadcast is powering the latest wave of concern.

This week, Afghan officials discovered an ISIS-sourced radio program lurking on local stations in eastern Nangarhar province. The 90-minute broadcast, called The Voice of the Caliphate, features interviews, music, and messages praising the Islamic extremist terror group.

“Caliphate Radio, where hell welcomes the conspirators of infidels,” the announcer begins, with jihad-themed audio effects—explosions, sword clashes, hoof-beats—in the background.

Radio remains Afghanistan’s most popular mode of communication, and in contrast to television or internet, it is accessible to 100 percent of the population. Some say ISIS is mimicking its media campaign in Syria and Iraq, strategically using radio broadcasts to lure young men and boost recruitment.

Afghan officials are uncertain when the Pashto-language program began but said they learned of the broadcast last week. So far, the district government has not succeeded in tracking a signal or blocking it: “[The broadcasts] move from one place to another,” said Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar’s governor. “It makes it difficult for us.”

Some fear the propaganda-laced broadcast will attract Afghanistan’s dissident young men, already disillusioned by dim job prospects. The overall unemployment rate in the war-torn country is at 24 percent, even higher among the youth targeted by the program.

One young man in Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s provincial capital, told Al Jazeera some residents are spellbound by The Voice of the Caliphate.

“Their listeners are increasing every day—I am one of them. They say that the current government is un-Islamic and how we should all stand up against them,” he said, adding that he listens to the program every day. “What they say is not wrong.”

The first Afghan allegiants to ISIS surfaced in Nangarhar this summer, when the group challenged the Taliban in border clashes. After vacillating between the two groups, four districts—Achin, Nazyan, Bati Kot, and Spin Gar—fell under ISIS control, according to General John F. Campbell, U.S. commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Afghan and U.S. officials believe ISIS may have designs on Jalalabad as its base for expansion in Afghanistan.

ISIS is just a few thousand fighters strong in Afghanistan, while the Taliban boasts between 20,000 and 30,000 insurgents nationwide. Despite its relatively insignificant numbers, the Islamic State should not be underestimated, said Nicholas Haysom, UN Envoy for Afghanistan: “They certainly constitute a worrying factor, when they represent an alternative flagpole around which a large variety of disaffected groups can rally.”

Since ISIS arrived in Nangarhar this summer, more than 170,000 people have been displaced across the province, either directly by the radical group or by perceived threats, according to chief refugee official, Ghulam Haidar Faqirzai. Even by Taliban standards, the Islamic State’s violence is exceptionally cruel. Its reign of terror includes extortion, eviction, arbitrary imprisonment, forced marriage for young women, and routine beheadings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.