The Afghanistan peace talks began on Tuesday after an early breakfast and with not so much as a glass of water for refreshment at the conference tables. A room was reserved for prayers in the towering castle overlooking Koenigswinter, a suburb of Bonn.

In the second week of the fasting month of Ramadan it was a powerful reminder that religion can never be too far from mainstream life in the war-ravaged, Muslim homeland of the delegations.

Devout Muslims found all their needs well catered for except perhaps for the absence of the Azan (call to prayer) on a loudspeaker from a local mosque.

But beyond the gestures to accommodate Muslims, there are many unanswered questions on the role of Islam after the fall of the harsh and puritanical regime of the Taliban.

Symbolic hangings of television sets and satellite dishes, punishment for flying kites and playing chess, and swift executions after Friday prayers of people found guilty of murder, were central to the reign of terror unleashed by Afghanistan's former rulers.

Their departure has been celebrated by men shaving their beards, women discarding their burqa and shopkeepers putting on music for their customers.

In the past two decades of conflict following the Soviet invasion in 1979, the Islamic concept of jihad (holy war) has remained the driving force for Afghan groups. The jihad has spurred a general revival of Islam in a country where the relatively more liberal mystical tradition known as Sufism was prevalent for centuries.

"Afghanistan has gone through a change in these years," says a former resistance commander. "Attitudes have become harder and the emphasis on Islam has only grown."

The implication of that change, warn western diplomats, is that any government moving towards relatively liberal policies must be prepared to face opposition from a number of groups including traditional tribal elders, the clergy and conservative Afghans in general.

"Whatever government comes to power will have to have some degree of an Islamic flavour," says Teresita Schaffer of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is a traditional country, a conservative country. There will have to be a high level of Islamic observance in public life."

Others warn however, that members of the small group of middle and upper-class Afghan exiles who feel that there is a future for more liberal values may want to return home to press for their establishment. "There's bound to be some agitation from people returning from Europe and America, wanting to challenge tradition and establishing new values," says a Western diplomat. "The danger is that there are limits to how far the boat can be rocked."

Other analysts note that the Taliban could still be a force in society in spite of their overwhelming defeat by the US. Small groups of hardline Taliban could retreat in to rural areas to wait for an opportunity to return. A clash between traditionalists and modernists could well be such an opportunity.

There are also concerns over hardening sentiment among the Afghan people as accounts of the casualties from the war make the rounds. "Even with a US victory, there is a group of Islamic militants that is being created now," says Husain Haqqani, a former adviser to two Pakistani prime ministers. "These are people who resent how fellow Afghans were slaughtered".

For a new government to have the opportunity to provide stability for Afghanistan it will have to demonstrate its respect for traditional values while allowing limited modernisation, which supports economic growth and improves security conditions.

"This is just not a simplistic victory that has been won. The challenge now is that of securing that victory," says Marika Vicziany, director of the Asia Institute at Australia's Monash University. "The question of examining Afghanistan's Islamic identity and what can or cannot change runs much deeper than terrorism or violence."

Iran opposes using foreign troops as peacekeepers in Afghanistan

Iran, one of the main military backers of the Northern Alliance, yesterday voiced its opposition to the stationing of multinational peacekeepers in Afghanistan, saying the transitional government should establish security itself by forming a national police force, Guy Dinmore reports from Tehran.

A statement by the foreign ministry, broadcast on state television, said Afghanistan's "territorial integrity and independence" would be jeopardised by the presence of foreign military forces.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Siavash Yaghoubi, director-general for west Asia in Iran's foreign ministry, said it was up to the Afghans to decide whether a military presence, under the auspices of the UN, was necessary. But, he added, none of Afghanistan's neighbours, including Iran, should contribute troops.

Mr Yaghoubi suggested that the UN could send military "observers", rather than a military force. He said the Northern Alliance had shown restraint and responsibility in areas taken from the Taliban. "They are behaving like a state rather than an avenging army," he commented."

Diplomats in Tehran said Iran's greatest concern was that troops of the US-led coalition would remain in Afghanistan, just as US forces stayed in the Gulf region after Iraqi forces were driven from Kuwait 10 years ago.