The UN humanitarian chief should be relieved; Pakistan is beginning voluntary resettlement of the 300,000 or so displaced civilians living in camps (yet only a small fraction of the 2 million total displaced, most of whom have found refuge in the homes of other families). The tough part for many of these people, though, will be coming home to a society and an economy severely damaged by the insecurity.

No one expects a speedy return of the tourists who used to flock to the scenic alpine valley for its cool mountains in the summer and skiing in the winter.

"The business has been ruined," Zahid Hussain, president of a valley hotel association, told Reuters. "We're bankrupt ... It'll take three to five years for confidence to be restored."

And it will take a lot of work to make sure that these populations aren't radicalized in these three to five years along the way.