This following is speculation: The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 until 2021. Quite suddenly the US or some agency of the US decided the war was over and pulled out its troops, leaving billions of dollars worth of weapons behind. What brought about this sudden pullout after twenty years? One well-known US agency, with a well-established history of selling drugs, was interested in making Afghanistan the world's major producer of opium. Opium is made from poppies and then refined into morphine and heroin. The US military was in Afghanistan to protect the poppies and the opium produced from.

At some point China found/borrowed a way to synthesize the drug Fentanyl and produce it in large volumes. It had been used worldwide for terminal pain control in, for example cancer patients, and its effects are described by heroin users as being very similar in its painkilling and euphoria producing effects. When Fentanyl was introduced into illicit drug markets around the world the center of gravity among drug producers and exporters was shifted. The demand for Afghan poppies decreased as Fentanyl took over the markets for heroin. The billions of dollars made from the sale of heroin and later Fentanyl had to be laundered and stored somewhere, usually banks. Some people believe that SVB, and of course other banks suffered from the changeover while other banks and countries profitted. Put simply, this is why SVB failed.