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KABUL, Afghanistan Propaganda pamphlets in Pakistan. Beheadings and black flags in the Afghan province of Ghazni. Graffiti on a wall here in the capital.

These are the vague, perhaps illusory traces of the Islamic State (IS) gaining a foothold in the region.

Everyone, it seems, has a tale: students embracing radicalism, or Taliban members forsaking their spiritual leader Mullah Omar. Most reports turn into smoke when pursued.

Its harder to find Afghans who can speak firsthand of their loyalty to IS, also called ISIS or ISIL. But a former Taliban commander, Ibrahim Khorotai, assures GlobalPost that he and a small band of men have switched allegiances from Mullah Omar to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed Caliph Ibrahim of the equally self-proclaimed Islamic State, known in Afghanistan by its Arabic acronym, Daesh.

I and many other [members of] fundamentalist Islamist movements have been waiting for an Islamic caliphate to emerge, the bearded, 37-year-old former Taliban commander told GlobalPost. With Daesh, Muslims now have a true government.

As the United States-led war in Afghanistan officially ends, worries about the future loom large. Primary among the potential monsters lurking in the shadows is IS, which has made such a shambles of another war zone Washington had thought resolved.

More from GlobalPost: Meet the Yazidi family heading the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq

There is little evidence that Khorotai speaks for a significant group, and his words could be just bravado. But in the current atmosphere, any sign that IS may be gaining ground can cause shivers.

Khorotais professed change of heart offers a rare glimpse into the mindset of a previously committed Talib who claims to have hitched his own star to what is becoming the trendy IS bandwagon.

An empty police post outside Karachi, Pakistan, with graffiti that some are attributing to signs of a rising allegiance to Islamic State militants in the region.

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The Islamic State in Afghanistan: The boogeyman under the bed