Peshawar: (source Wikipedia)

During the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Peshawar served as a political centre for the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence-trained mujahideen groups based in the camps of Afghan refugees. It also served as the primary destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure,[68] and drastically altered the city's demography.[68]

Like much of northwest Pakistan, Peshawar has been severely affected by violence from the attacks of the extremist Taliban. Local poets' shrines have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban,[69] a suicide bomb attack targeted the historic All Saints Church, and most notably the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in which Taliban militants killed 132 school children.

Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010, which had declined to 18 in 2014, before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb which has further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan. More civilians died in acts of violence in 2014 compared to 2010 – largely a result of the Peshawar school massacre.