LEBAT, Pakistan: Swat Valley community policemen show off martial arts skills as regional officials high on the Pakistani Taliban hit list clap at a graduation ceremony.

An anti-aircraft gun taken by the Taliban and then recaptured by Pakistan’s army and a heavy dagger used for beheadings are displayed, a chilling reminder of what the militants were capable of when they ruled this bucolic valley northwest of Islamabad.

Recruiting Swat residents into community policing groups such as these graduates is a key aim of local authorities and the Pakistani military, who have vowed to prevent the al-Qaeda-backed Taliban from returning. The graduates are tasked with supporting the regular police force and military.

Pakistan’s military mounted a major offensive in Swat nearly a year ago after a peace agreement with Taliban militants failed.

Swat has been mostly peaceful since fighting died down. But occasional suicide bombings in Swat, and more frequent ones in other Pakistani cities and towns, have raised fears militants may be regrouping.

The number of community police in Swat, known as the Special Police, stands at 3,200, and is expected to grow, police officials say.

“I am impressed,” the chief regional minister, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, told Reuters at the ceremony as a community policemen fended off mock attackers with karate chops and kicks.

“This is a very important part of improving security.”

There is a lot at stake in the battle against the Taliban and if they were to return to Swat, just 80 miles from Islamabad, it would be a major blow to the government.

Pakistan’s sluggish economy has been drained by the battle against militancy and foreign investors crucial to its recovery are likely to stay away if the country remains unstable.

The government’s concerns are reflected in the heavy military presence in Swat.

Taliban emirate

There are 50,000 soldiers in Swat Valley, a former tourists’ paradise the Taliban turned into an emirate where houses, hotels and girls’ schools were bombed as the group tightened its grip.

Public beheadings and floggings were carried out in their reign of terror, which started with militant incursions in 2007.

The 2009 fighting with the army triggered one of the biggest internal exoduses in Pakistan’s history.

Officials say they hope the armed Special Police, who are paid by the provincial government, become an effective fighting machine that wins the confidence of the local population and relies on them to provide intelligence on any suspicious activities in villages and towns.

Unlike the Sunni Muslim “Awakening” movement in Iraq, which was funded by the US military and became a potent political force, Pakistan’s community police is still in its infancy.

Standing beside a house under reconstruction after it was demolished by the Taliban, a military officer looks across peach orchards where militants once hid before mounting ambushes.

He says he believes the Special Police could make an impact, but says it could take up to two years.

“There will be a gradual withdrawal,” he said. “But it can be done.”

Some 5,000 troops are expected to stay in Swat for the long term, officials say.

The ideal scenario would be a return to the days when Pakistani and foreign tourists flocked to the valley to enjoy its soothing, lush mountains and cascading waters.

That is highly unlikely anytime soon. For one, it will take billions of dollars to rehabilitate Swat.

And much depends on the dedication and staying power of the novice community force and under-funded regular police, as well as the priorities of the army, which has been obsessed with perceived threats from India for decades, and only recently cracked down hard on Taliban insurgents.

It’s too early to judge the effectiveness of the Special Police in Swat Valley, and some community policemen seemed more interested in job opportunities than keeping the Taliban at bay.

Take Alaf Gul. He struggled to make a living as a shopkeeper and now makes $112 a month. “I am paid well,” he said.

His colleague, Pardool Khan, was not motivated by a desire to secure Swat. It was more of a life-long dream.

“I used to watch policemen carry out drills and exercise when I worked at a canteen years ago and decided to become a policeman,” he said.

But both speak proudly of training for hours each day.

After only eight months, Pakistan’s government is banking on recruits like them to take on the defiant Taliban.