SINGAPORE -- The Taliban's return in Afghanistan has issued a wake-up call thousands of kilometers away in Southeast Asia, home to millions of Muslims.
Policymakers, security officials and experts in Association of Southeast Asian Nations states are wary that the Islamist group's triumph will inspire religious extremism close to home, while also bracing for a potential influx of refugees. "I assure the public that the police and military will not allow a spillover of the Afghan conflict," the Philippines' police chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said last week in an immediate reaction to concerns over Taliban-inspired terrorism in the country.
