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The Taliban profanes Islam by labeling non-Muslims
Monday, May 28, 2001
The current rulers of Afghanistan are determined not to let a day go by without proving to the world what bad neighbors they can be.
The outrages of the Taliban regime pile up like parking tickets on a scofflaw's windshield: Women are oppressed, international terrorists are protected and millennia-old Buddhist statues are destroyed.
To those outrages, the Taliban have added a new decree: All non-Muslims must wear distinctive garb so they can be easily differentiated from the Islamic faithful. You don't need a Ph.D. in history to detect an ominous parallel to the Nazi-era branding of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals.
The Taliban's decree appears primarily aimed at Afghanistan's tiny population of Hindus. This is especially unfortunate because tensions between Muslims and Hindus throughout Asia have led to sectarian conflict and bloodshed in recent decades.
Mindful of the bad press that the repressive, theocratic regime has already generated for Muslims around the world, Islamic religious and political leaders have called upon the Taliban to reconsider an edict that has no standing or precedent in Islamic law. The pleas have gone unheeded.
With the exception of the Taliban's efforts to eradicate the poppy fields in Afghanistan that played an integral role in the heroin trade worldwide, the regime has excelled in bringing contempt upon itself and its warped interpretation of Islam.