Daily Times Editorials 16th August 2026

Rivals, Not Enemies

There was more experience than sentiment behind Nawaz Sharif’s warning in Murree on Saturday that political differences should never harden into animosity. The former prime minister was speaking as the PML-N’s electoral gains in Azad Kashmir pushed its relationship with the PPP, its partner in Islamabad, towards unusually bitter territory. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has accused the ruling party of stealing the AJK mandate and warned that the federal government’s “countdown” has begun; PML-N leaders answered with taunts of their own and, regrettably, even dragged the political wounds of 1971 into an argument over regional polls.

Sharif should recognise the terrain better than most. Through much of the 1990s, political parties in the country treated alternation in power as an opportunity to cripple whoever had just left office. Governments were dismissed, accountability became political ammunition, and each side celebrated the other’s misfortune until the democratic arena itself disappeared beneath the 1999 coup. Exile eventually taught formidable rivals that burning the bridge after crossing it is poor strategy when politics guarantees that one day you will need to cross back.

The Charter of Democracy they signed in London in May 2006 grew from that bruising education. Its language about political tolerance, a vibrant opposition, constitutional government and an end to political victimisation can sound almost quaint twenty years later, yet the understanding helped create space for parliamentary continuity, provincial autonomy and the first transfer of power between elected civilian governments.

That history gives the latest appeal a larger test. Pakistan’s deepest political rupture still lies between the government and PTI. The government has repeatedly extended offers of talks, while PTI itself proposed a national “grand dialogue” last month. There is enough common ground there for politicians to work with, provided dialogue produces negotiations rather than another exchange of soundbites.History

Responsibility is not evenly distributed. Yes, governments possess administrative machinery and therefore carry the heavier burden of making engagement credible. However, that does not give PTI a free hand to demand civilian supremacy while regarding civilian rivals as unworthy interlocutors.

Sharif also made a second admission in Murree that deserves equal attention regarding how successive governments have failed to meet many of AJK’s needs, and public anger will be justified if the incoming administration does the same. He spoke specifically of roads, hospitals, livelihoods, tourism, industry and agriculture. That is where political reconciliation finally earns its keep.

Pakistan has experimented with politics as permanent war often enough. Its senior-most politicians already know that the eventual casualty is the arena in which all of them hope to govern.

No Excuses

Armoured vehicles rolled past the former US embassy in Kabul on Saturday as the Taliban celebrated five years of what they call victory over foreign domination. But the parade was the easy part. Five years after seizing Kabul, the Taliban no longer have the luxury of presenting themselves as insurgents who inherited someone else’s failures. Afghanistan’s borders and security apparatus are theirs. So are the consequences.

The gravest indictment is their failure to prevent Afghan territory from becoming a sanctuary for forces threatening their neighbours, despite repeated assurances to the contrary. The latest UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report says the Taliban authorities have “continued their support” for the TTP. Even if Kabul claims to have relocated around 2,000 TTP fighters and Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has reportedly warned the group’s leadership to halt attacks against Pakistan, the threat has not diminished. The TTP’s command, training and logistical networks have not been dismantled, and the same UN assessment points to growing operational and facilitation links involving the TTP, Al Qaeda, IS-K and other militant actors.Geographic Reference

That contrast is particularly damning. The Taliban fight IS-K with considerable force because it threatens their own rule. What Pakistan is entitled to ask is why comparable resolve disappears when the militants concerned share ideological or historical affinities with the Taliban.

Its treatment of women provides an equally devastating record of government by exclusion. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are formally barred from secondary and higher education. UNESCO estimates that 2.4 million girls have been denied secondary education since 2021. More than 90 per cent of Afghan 10-year-olds cannot read a simple text, and the country could face a shortage of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030.

Calling this a cultural preference has become untenable. It is state policy directed against half the population. The Taliban have issued more than 100 decrees restricting women and girls. Female employment stands at roughly 7 per cent, and UN experts have warned that this systematic and institutionalised exclusion may amount to gender apartheid.Pakistan regional tours

Afghanistan desperately needs doctors, nurses, teachers, entrepreneurs and skilled workers, yet its rulers have deliberately blocked millions of women from becoming any of these. The Taliban complain of poverty and isolation while pursuing policies guaranteed to produce more of both.

The humanitarian numbers expose the price. Around 21.9 million Afghans, or roughly 45pc of the population, require humanitarian assistance this year. Aid organisations say the number in need has risen by 3.5 million since the Taliban takeover, while the UN’s $1.7 billion humanitarian appeal is only about one-quarter funded. Donor fatigue is real, and ordinary Afghans should not be punished for the conduct of their rulers. But Kabul cannot endlessly blame outsiders for a humanitarian emergency while restricting female aid workers, hollowing out education and deliberately shrinking the productive capacity of its own population.