War on terrorism

Main article: Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Fatalities in terrorist violence in Pakistan, (2000–present)

The current wave of terrorism peaked during 2009. Since then it has declined as result of
selective military operations conducted by the Pakistan Army.[2] According to South Asian
Terrorism Portal Index (SATP), terrorism in Pakistan has declined by 89% in 2017 since its peak
years in 2009.[2]

In 2012, the Pakistani leadership sat down to sort out solutions for dealing with the menace of
terrorism and in 2013, political parties unanimously reached a resolution on Monday 9,
September 2013, at the All Parties Conference (APC), stating that negotiation with the militants
should be pursued as their first option to counter terrorism.[17]

With the terrorists attacks continuing in late 2013 the political leadership in Pakistan initiated a
military operation against terrorists named Operation Zarb-e-Azb; a joint military offensive
against various militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-
Jhangvi, Jundallah, al-Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the Haqqani network.[18][citation needed] The operation was
launched by the Pakistan Armed Forces on 15 June 2014 in North Waziristan (part of the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border) as a renewed effort against
militancy in the wake of the 8 June attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, for which
the TTP and the IMU claimed responsibility.[19]

Operation Zarb-e-Azb has been described as turning point in Pakistan war on terrorism. The
operation was successful and Pakistan experienced sharp decline in terrorism since the launch of
the operation.[20] According to National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Pakistan
experienced largest number of terrorist attack in 2010. Since 2014, terrorist attacks in Pakistan
have significantly declined. Pakistani officials state that the terrorism in Pakistan will decline
more once the fencing of Pakistan-Afghanistan border is complete.[20]

Pakistani newspaper, Dawn news, reports that Pakistan's economic losses due to war on
terrorism declined by 62% from 2014 to 2018. The Pakistani economy suffered $23.77 billion in
2010-11 due to expenses related to war on terrorism. This amount declined to $12 billion in
2011-12. In 2016-17, Pakistan economy suffered $5.47 billion and $2.07 billion on 2017-18.
Pakistani government estimates that Pakistan has suffered total losses of $126.79 billion since
9/11 attacks.[12]

Afghan President's spokesperson, Aimal Faizi, told reporters that the National Directorate of
Security (NDS) was working with Latif. Latif was conduit for funding to TTP. Some of the
funding for TTP might have come from NDS.[21] Former NDS head, Asadullah Khalid, posted a
video belonging to TTP on his Twitter account where he claimed that Badaber Camp attack was
tit for tat

Operation Zarb-e-Azb (Pashto/Urdu: ‫ب عضب‬ ِ ‫ آپریشن ضر‬ALA-LC: Āpres̱ ẖan Ẓarb-i ʿAẓb
pronounced [ɑːpreːʃən zərb-e əzb]) was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed
Forces against various militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, al-
Qaeda, Jundallah and the Haqqani network.[5] The operation was launched on 15 June 2014 in
North Waziristan along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as a renewed effort against militancy in
the wake of the 8 June attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, for which the TTP and
the IMU claimed responsibility.[39][40] As of 14 July 2014, the operation internally displaced about
929,859 people belonging to 80,302 families from North Waziristan.[36]

Part of the war in North-West Pakistan, up to 30,000 Pakistani soldiers were involved in Zarb-e-
Azb, described as a "comprehensive operation" to flush out all foreign and local militants hiding
in North Waziristan.[41] The operation has received widespread support from the Pakistani
political, defence and civilian sectors. As a consequence, the overall security situation improved
and terrorist attacks in Pakistan dropped to a six-year low since 2008.[42] Zarb-e-Azb was
followed by Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad which began in February 2017, following a resurgence in
terrorist incidents.