While Afghanistan's people starve, the country's fanatic Taleban government is carving out new ways to oppress and persecute them. The obscurantist militia has issued an edict forcing those outside the Muslim faith, and in particular the country's tiny Hindu population, to wear yellow labels identifying themselves as non-Muslims.

The Taleban's Ministry of Vice and Virtue claims that the yellow labels are designed to protect Hindus from harassment by the religious police force that terrorizes those not following the government's extreme Islamic ordinances. But what the labels will actually do is stigmatize a minority and reinforce the Taleban's total rule of the country. The tags reek of Nazi Germany and have more in common with the Star of David than the color -- they're a reminder that any mark of distinction can just make it easier to persecute that group.

The declaration is only the latest of the Taleban's demeaning and tyrannical moves against those who do not adhere to the militia's non-mainstream Islamic practices. In an act denounced globally as barbaric, the Taleban last month destroyed two giant sandstone Buddhas that dated from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., claiming that the figures encouraged idolatry.

The Taleban's treatment of women is no better than its regard for non-Muslims. At best, it violates the most basic human rights. Since the militia took control in 1996, women have lost their right to education, their access to adequate medical treatment and their freedom to move unaccompanied outside the home. Confined to head-to-toe garments that even cover the eyes, women may not make noise or laugh in public, lest they draw attention to themselves -- an action that warrants summary beatings by the religious police. By enforcing its unforgiving interpretation of Islam, the Taleban has successfully enslaved an entire female population.

Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries, a nation of 21-million suffering from the area's worst drought in 30 years. And while the Taleban rules nearly 95 percent of the country, the government has done virtually nothing to help its sick and starving. In fact, by harassing and arresting U.N. relief workers attempting to feed the more than 1-million starving Afghans and shutting down four of the five U.N. offices in Taleban territory, the militia has worsened its country's situation.

The Taleban's rap sheet of blatant human rights violations goes on and on. But the Islamic militia's most recent move should resonate harshly in the United States and around the world. The plight of women and non-Muslims has been addressed by the American media but not nearly enough. After watching millions die in Germany and Bosnia, the world by now should recognize the signs that lead to ethnic cleansing. Isolationism is the first step.

Now, as Afghan Hindus must deal with an act of targeted isolationism and wonder what's next for them, the Taleban has brought upon itself even more international disgrace. Hiding behind its veil of secrecy and extremism, it doesn't seem to care.

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