President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group was gaining influence in Afghanistan.

Speaking during a press briefing ahead of his visit to United States, President Ghani said “Daesh’s characteristic is that it is man-eating. It swallows its competitors.”

“Here, it is not physical presence of people from Syria or Iraq. It is the network effect,” President Ghani added.

The remarks by President Ghani comes as first Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum warned regarding serious threat of the terrorist group to Afghanistan, saying that the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan poses a serious threat to the country

This comes President Ghani said earlier last month that the global terrorism including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) stills threatens Afghanistan.

The Secretary General of the United Natoins, Ban Ki-moon said earlier this week that the former Taliban commanders in Afghanistan have pledged allegiance to the Islamic States and the number of their supporters is on the rise.

Concerns regarding the expansion of ISIS activities in Afghanistan further escalated after after unknown masked men kidnapped 30 passengers in southern Zabul province last month with reports suggesting that the militants belong to ISIS terrorist group.

At least two commanders of the ISIS terrorist group have been killed by the Afghan security forces so far which includes Mulah Abdul Rauf and his successor Hafiz Wahid.

Mullah Abdul Rawouf was the first Islamic State commander and recruiter who was killed along with five of his companions in Helmand province last month.

Following the killing of Mullah Abdul Rawouf, his nephew Hafiz Wahidi took the command for ISIS who was also killed along with nine of his companions in Afghan National Security Forces operations in Helmand province.