File photo of Islamic State militants. (Associated Press)
Across Pakistan, the black standard of the Islamic State has been popping up all over.
From urban slums to Taliban strongholds, the militant group's logo and name have appeared in graffiti, posters and pamphlets. Last month, a cluster of militant commanders declared their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State.
Such is the influence of the Islamic State's steamroller success in Iraq and Syria that, even thousands of miles away, security officials and militant networks are having to reckon with the group.
Its victories have energized battle-weary militants in Pakistan. The Islamic State brand offers them potent advantages, analysts say - an aid to fundraising and recruiting, a possible advantage over rival factions and, most powerfully, a new template for waging jihad.
Although the Islamic State is not operational in Pakistan, even just its symbolic presence is ample cause for concern. It is there, after all, that al-Qaida was founded in the 1980s, followed by other extremist ideologies that easily found the means and support to carry out international attacks.
"It doesn't matter that Daish has not yet established its presence in Pakistan - it has already changed the dynamics of militancy here," said Muhammad Amir Rana, director for the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, using the Arabic acronym for the group. "Our groups were in crisis; now Daish has provided them with a powerful framework that is transforming their narrative."
During his visit to Washington this week, the new Pakistani army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, assured his American hosts that the Islamic State would not be allowed to take root in Pakistan. Instead, officials say, local groups are manipulating its name to their own ends.
When Islamic State posters appeared on electricity poles in Lahore, the hometown of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, this month, the police blamed it on sectarian militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. "They are just using the Daish name to intimidate Shiites," said Ijaz Shafi Dogar, a senior police commander.
But inside the splintering network of the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic State phenomenon has had a very real effect as a powerful catalyst for tensions. As a punishing military offensive against militant cells in the North Waziristan enters its sixth month, the Islamic State has highlighted to militant leaders the shortcomings of their own insurgency and provided an outlet for dissent.