UN-led meeting in Qatar with Afghan Taliban is not a recognition of their government, official says

A U.N official says a U.N.-led meeting held in Qatar with the Taliban on increasing engagement with Afghanistan doesn't translate into a recognition of their government. The Sunday-Monday gathering in Qatar’s capital of Doha with envoys from some two dozen countries, was the first time that representatives of the Afghan Taliban government attended such a meeting. Representatives of Afghan women were excluded, which paved the way for the Taliban to send their envoys — though the organizers insisted that demands for women’s rights were raised. Rosemary A. DiCarlo, a U.N. official for political and peacebuilding affairs said on Monday that this “process of engagement” with the Afghan Taliban "does not mean normalization or recognition.”