It is never, of course, a surprise when participants in an international conference declare that it was a success. Anything short of Jirga members pulling out guns and shooting each other would have been greeted as a huge step forward.
But, let's note a few things.
First, President Musharraf did attend, something which looked very doubtful when he skipped the opening ceremony on Thursday.
Second, he has not declared a state of emergency. In fact he has announced that there will be elections.
Third, he acknowledged that there is a real problem in Waziristan and promised to focus on solving it.
Fourth, there seemed to be real support among those tribal leaders attending for efforts to clamp down on the Taleban and al Qaeda. (How representative attendees were, and how many non-attendees there were, is anybody's guess).
Fifth, his apparent deal with Benazir Bhutto is probably still on.
