Singapore Minister's Terror Warning For South East Asia Amid Taliban Rule In Afghanistan

Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that this fear is because Afghanistan had, under the previous Taliban regime, provided a safe haven for potential terrorists from South East Asia, including from Singapore.

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan could lead to increased terrorism in South East Asia, Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Friday, warning that the war-ravaged country might become a safe haven for radical training of potential terrorists from the region, including from the city-state, and access to weapons. The minister said that this fear is because Afghanistan had, under the previous Taliban regime, provided a safe haven for potential terrorists from South East Asia, including from Singapore. "If you ask what would-be terrorists need or what helps would-be terrorists go out and do bad things: A safe haven, a place where they can train, a place where their minds can be hardened and radicalised even more," the Channel News Asia quoted the Indian-origin minister as saying. "And previously, what happened with ISIS and Al-Qaeda was that there were such safe havens. Afghanistan provided a safe haven for training persons from South East Asia, including from Singapore; and it provided a safe haven for training, access to weapons, people become hardened because there's training on fighting, and that makes it very dangerous," the minister said.