Taliban defends new dress code

Islamabad - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement yesterday accused countries attacking its controversial new dress code for …

Islamabad - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement yesterday accused countries attacking its controversial new dress code for non-Muslims of following "a policy of enmity".

A Taliban Foreign Ministry statement, broadcast by the hardline Islamic movement's Voice of Shariat radio, said some foreign countries were misinterpreting Kabul's order to non-Muslim Afghans to wear a distinguishing yellow badge.

Meanwhile, the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, yesterday condemned an Afghan decree requiring non-Muslims to wear yellow badges, calling it the latest in a series of human rights violations by the Taliban government.

"The German government is horrified that initial reports about the introduction of a badge requirement for all Hindus in Taliban-controlled areas have been confirmed," he said.