Badge of Shame for a Nation

Afghanistan’s Islamic rulers, widely condemned for their recent destruction of ancient Buddhist artifacts, have now turned their zeal against the country’s tiny Hindu population. According to the Ministry of Vice and Virtue--an Orwellian name if ever there was one--Hindus must begin wearing a yellow badge on their chests “as a mark of distinction.” The edict ostensibly aims at protecting non-Muslims from harassment by the religious police who prowl the streets ordering Muslims to daily prayers. But like Nazi Germany’s revival of the medieval practice of forcing Jews to wear special badges, it simply makes it easier to identify and stigmatize a minority.

Afghanistan has been a pariah state since the Taliban movement fought its way to power in 1996 and began imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic law. Women, now barred from work and school, have been most impacted. But the country’s clerical leaders seem determined to do all Afghans harm. Two weeks ago religious police shut down a hospital operated by an Italian charity because male and female staff members ate together.

The United Nations warns that 1 million Afghans face starvation if the next harvest fails and more international aid isn’t made available. The Taliban’s indifference to this prospective domestic disaster, and to Afghanistan’s desperate need for outside goodwill, is striking. Instead of trying to improve its international relations, it invites international opprobrium. The destruction of the Buddhist statues, on the claim they encouraged idolatry, was universally condemned as an act of barbarism. The yellow badge now required of Afghanistan’s few hundred Hindus ominously signals a first step toward their isolation or expulsion. In a world that aspires to move ahead, the Taliban has chosen regression.