Eyewitness: A bid for Afghan unity

Nearly 1,000 people were crammed into the hall

By the BBC's Clive Myrie in Peshawar

Most arrived on foot, many clutching beautifully carved watching sticks, while the bright sunlight illuminated a pageantry of costume I have never seen before.

Fine woollen waistcoats in a rainbow of colours were worn with the obligatory long cotton shirt over trousers.

We have to work together. We have to put ancient rivalries aside

Conference delegate

But the most splendid fashion statement were the turbans ornately wrapped around heads two or three times with one loose end left hanging down to one side.

These people had donned their best - dressed for an extraordinary gathering of Afghan political and religious leaders, academics, writers and intellectuals.

The aim is to demonstrate to the outside world that Afghans can work together in the interest of everyone.

Missing

Civil war, division, ancient rivalries, bloodshed - these words characterise Afghanistan in the eyes of many in the outside world.

And the delegates at the two-day conference in Peshawar want to change that perception, but it will not be easy.

Some fear the Northern Alliance may seize power

While close to 1,000 people crammed into the main conference hall calling for unity, there were notable absentees.

No representatives of the deposed king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, a man many want as the main figure head of a post-Taleban Afghanistan, were present.

Nor were any senior representatives of the Northern Alliance, currently battling to oust the Taleban, in attendance at a meeting discussing a post Taleban future.

Islamabad's anxieties

There is also the Taleban itself, the rulers of a land who have abused power and brutalised a nation in the interest of an extreme vision of Islam, and terrorised and crushed Afghan women.

They are not represented at the conference.

Quite right, some may say.

But Pakistan disagrees.

The leadership here believes that whatever regime replaces the Taleban it has to be a multi-ethnic entity representing all Afghans and that includes the Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group.

The Taleban are Pashtuns and moderate Taleban leaders should not be left out in the cold, say the Pakistanis.

"We have to work together," said one delegate. "We have to put ancient rivalries aside."