Author: Muhammad Nafees
Editors: Imtiaz Gul and Zeeshan Salahuddin

Introduction

Pakistan recorded a significant decline in violence related casualties in the year 2016, continuing a two-year trend. Terrorism began losing momentum after the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched in mid 2014, in the tribal areas. The results of the continued kinetic operations are now quite evident and manifest in the improved security situation. However the root cause of extremism still exists, and remains largely unaddressed.