The "peace jirga" could nonetheless help mend relations across the troubled border, improve ties between tribal groups and eventually allow them to forge a closer and more effective partnership against the threat, some said.

But stop the violence -- at least in the short term -- it will not.

"No one should exaggerate or overestimate the ability of one meeting to overcome very complex issues," the deputy head of the United Nations' mission in Afghanistan, Chris Alexander, told AFP.

Thursday's opening session had brought together some of the region's most powerful people in a "remarkable display" of determination, he said. "We simply have not seen that before."

About 700 delegates, many sporting flamboyant turbans unique to their areas, gathered for the second of three days of talks Friday in a giant white tent in the west of Kabul. The speakers called for militants to be driven from their areas, and for peace and unity.

Kabul and Islamabad regularly meet to discuss internationally-backed efforts to fight insurgents operating across the border, but they just as regularly accuse each other of not doing enough against militants and their hideouts.

The scale of this jirga, the first to involve tribal elders from both countries, "may be what is needed to generate a real sense of common cause on the two sides," Alexander said.

But Afghan MP and analyst Ahmad Behzad fixed on the absence of President Pervez Musharraf, who pulled out on the eve of the talks Wednesday, saying that this "shows Pakistan's lack of interest and sincerity."

"The outcome will be nothing more than an emphasis on the need for 'good and brotherly relations' -- as has been repeatedly said by both governments," Behzad said.