As the Taliban consolidates power over Afghanistan, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has offered a measured but sobering reckoning: those who seize governance must bear its weight, and no outside force can substitute for a people's own capacity to shape their destiny. Speaking on Thursday, Balakrishnan placed the Afghan crisis within a longer arc of history — one that began with September 11, wound through two decades of foreign intervention, and now arrives at a moment of humanitarian collapse and renewed terrorist risk. For Singapore and Southeast Asia, the lesson is not mere
Taliban now responsible for Afghanistan's fate, Singapore FM warns of terrorism threat
Thousands of foreigners and Afghans have flooded Kabul airport attempting to flee the country following the Taliban takeover.
The destiny of a people lies in the hands of its own people
Mark
So when Balakrishnan says the Taliban "has to take responsibility," what does that actually mean? What's he asking them to do?
Mimi
He's saying they now own the consequences. They control the government, so they control whether people eat, whether hospitals function, whether the country descends into chaos or stabilizes. It's not a plea—it's a statement of fact. They're in charge, so they're accountable.
Luke
But accountability to whom? The Taliban answers to no international court. Balakrishnan is making a moral claim, but there's no enforcement mechanism behind it. It's important to note that.
Mark
He mentions that the outcome was "inevitable" but the speed was surprising. What does he mean by that?
Mimi
He's saying the Taliban was always going to return to power eventually—that was baked in once the U.S. decided to leave. But the collapse happened in weeks, not months or years. The Afghan government fell faster than almost anyone predicted.
Luke
Though we should be careful here. "Inevitable" is Balakrishnan's interpretation. Other analysts might argue different choices at different moments could have changed the timeline or the outcome. He's offering one reading, not the only one.
Mark
The terrorism angle—he says it's grown over two decades in Southeast Asia. Is he saying the U.S. presence in Afghanistan was supposed to prevent that?
Mimi
He's actually careful not to say that. He says he wouldn't "relate it directly" to the U.S. presence or absence. He's saying terrorism in his region has grown as a trend, period. Afghanistan's instability could make it worse, but the threat was already there and already growing.
Luke
Right, and that's an important distinction. He's not blaming the U.S. withdrawal for Southeast Asia's terrorism problem. He's saying the region faces a persistent threat, and Afghanistan's collapse is one more variable in an already dangerous equation. That's more measured than some of the rhetoric you hear.
El Pulso
- Thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals are pressing against the gates of Kabul airport in desperate flight, embodying the human cost of a government that collapsed faster than almost anyone anticipated.
- Singapore's foreign minister warns that the Taliban's return to power risks transforming Afghanistan once again into fertile ground for extremist networks with reach into Southeast Asia.
- Balakrishnan is careful to separate cause from correlation — the terrorism threat to his region is not born of the U.S. withdrawal, but has been quietly deepening for twenty years.
- The Biden administration inherited a fractured situation, and Singapore's leadership acknowledges the withdrawal was painful — but frames it as confirmation that nation-building imposed from outside rarely holds.
- The Taliban now faces the full weight of governing a country in humanitarian crisis, compounded by COVID-19, and Balakrishnan insists accountability must follow power.
- Singapore is treating this moment not as distant geopolitics but as an active security calculation — one that demands vigilance and cannot be taken for granted.
As the Taliban consolidates power over Afghanistan, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has offered a measured but sobering reckoning: those who seize governance must bear its weight, and no outside force can substitute for a people's own capacity to shape their destiny. Speaking on Thursday, Balakrishnan placed the Afghan crisis within a longer arc of history — one that began with September 11, wound through two decades of foreign intervention, and now arrives at a moment of humanitarian collapse and renewed terrorist risk. For Singapore and Southeast Asia, the lesson is not merely geopolitical; it is existential, as the threat of extremism has grown steadily across the region regardless of American military presence abroad.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan sat down with CNBC on Thursday to take stock of Afghanistan's future under Taliban rule. His message carried a quiet gravity: having seized power, the Taliban must now answer for the people it governs. The country faces what he described as a perfect storm — a humanitarian catastrophe layered over a still-raging pandemic, while thousands press desperately toward the exits at Kabul airport.
The speed of the collapse surprised him, though not the outcome. Balakrishnan recalled the skepticism of Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who had long viewed the American nation-building project in Afghanistan as a distraction. Events, Balakrishnan said, had confirmed that judgment. He was not condemning American intentions — he acknowledged that the Biden administration inherited a situation already broken, and that the withdrawal was painful by any measure. But he drew a broader principle from the wreckage: foreign interference, however well-resourced, cannot substitute for a people's own leaders and their own will.
What weighs most heavily on Balakrishnan is not Afghanistan's internal politics, but what its instability signals for the wider region. Terrorism, he told CNBC, remains a clear and present danger in Singapore and across Southeast Asia — a threat that has grown over two decades, independent of whether American forces were present or absent. For a small, densely connected nation like Singapore, the prospect of Afghanistan becoming a renewed haven for extremist networks is not a distant abstraction. It is a live security calculation, and one, he warned, that no one can afford to take for granted.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan sat down with CNBC on Thursday to assess what comes next for Afghanistan now that the Taliban controls the country. His message was direct: the militant group that seized power earlier in the month must now answer for the people it governs. "At the end of the day, the Taliban is in charge, they've got to take responsibility for the people," Balakrishnan said. The country faces what he called a "perfect storm"—a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in real time, compounded by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, all while thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals crowd the Kabul airport desperate to leave.
The speed of the Taliban's takeover caught many observers off guard, though Balakrishnan suggested the outcome itself was never in doubt. What surprised him was how quickly it happened. The U.S. had entered Afghanistan two decades earlier, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, operating on the premise that the country had become a safe haven for terrorists. That assessment was not wrong—terror groups active in Southeast Asia, including those in Singapore, had maintained connections to al-Qaeda. But the broader American project of nation-building in Afghanistan, Balakrishnan noted, was always questionable. He recalled the skepticism of Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who had viewed the U.S. effort as a distraction rather than a strategic necessity. "And somewhere along the way, well, events have unfolded and confirmed his view," Balakrishnan said.
The Biden administration inherited a situation that was already fractured. Balakrishnan acknowledged this, echoing remarks made days earlier by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong—the withdrawal was difficult, the timing was difficult, and the fallout was difficult. But he also articulated a broader principle: "One other lesson ... is that foreign interference doesn't work. In the end, the destiny of a people lies in the hands of its own people, and its own leaders." This was not a judgment on American intentions, but rather an observation about the limits of external power.
What concerns Balakrishnan most now is not the Taliban's control of Afghanistan itself, but what that control means for the region immediately around it. Terrorism, he told CNBC, remains "a clear and present danger" in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. He was careful not to draw a direct line between the U.S. withdrawal and the terrorism threat—the danger exists independent of American military presence or absence. But he was emphatic about the trajectory: over the past two decades, the terrorist threat to Southeast Asia has grown, not diminished. "So we cannot take this for granted," he said. The Taliban's return to power, combined with Afghanistan's instability and the humanitarian breakdown unfolding at the Kabul airport, creates conditions that experts warn could turn the country into a breeding ground for extremist groups once again. For a small, densely populated nation like Singapore, that possibility is not abstract—it is a security calculation that shapes policy and planning in real time.
Citas Notables
At the end of the day, the Taliban is in charge, they've got to take responsibility for the people.— Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Foreign Minister
Foreign interference doesn't work. In the end, the destiny of a people lies in the hands of its own people, and its own leaders.— Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Foreign Minister
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