Franz, Marty. "The phantom menace of ISIS in Northern Afghanistan". The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 8 September 2016.

Franz, Marty. "The phantom menace of ISIS in Northern Afghanistan". The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 8 September 2016.

• Since the declaration of Afghanistan as the Khorasan province of ISIS by Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, there have been conflicting accounts over the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan.
• On July 25, 2016, U.S. Army Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications of the international coalition in Afghanistan, declared that ISIS presence was really limited to Nangarhar province, and did not touch the North.
• Despite this, the author found in interviews that most people in Raghistan province, on the border with Tajikistan, believed that there was a strong ISIS presence in their district; going so far as to claim that "All Taliban are in reality Daesh". Others claimed that black flags and ISIS headbands had been sighted in the province.
• Many other insurgent groups use black flags, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, meaning that sightings to not actually confirm ISIS presence in Raghistan.
• When questioned further, regional and district governors where often unable to provide a reason as to why they believed that ISIS was operating in the province.
• One governor claimed that the presence of beheadings demonstrated that ISIS, rather than the Taliban were in the province, whereas another respondent said that the local militia leader must be part of ISIS because he was Salafi instead of Hanafi. Neither of these statements is necessarily true.
• Villagers commonly claimed that the 'ISIS fighters' in their area where still technically part of the Taliban and used their flag, but only because they do not want to be attacked. Considering how widespread this 'knowledge' of disloyalty is, that can hardly be the explanation.
• This raises suspicions because claiming to be fighting ISIS, as opposed to the Taliban, means that the ISAF is more likely to respond, as ISIS is the larger international threat.
• "There is no compelling evidence of a presence of the self-styled Caliphate in northern Afghanistan and, hence, also no immediate threat to Central Asia".