A United Nations-led meeting with Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate (IEA) in Qatar this weekend will not be a discussion about international recognition of the group, the UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said on Wednesday.

The meeting, which will also be attended by envoys from some 25 countries, will be the third such meeting in Doha and gets underway on June 30.

It will however be the first time the IEA attends the meeting.

“This is not a meeting about recognition. This is not a meeting to lead to recognition … Having engagement doesn’t mean recognition,” DiCarlo told reporters.

“This isn’t about the Taliban (Islamic Emirate). This is about Afghanistan and the people.”

The UN-led meeting aims to engage with the Islamic Emirate on various issues including engagement going forward, along with sessions on private sector business and counter-narcotics.

This UN official also says that the work on appointing a UN special representative for Afghanistan is currently pending and will not be discussed in the Doha meeting.

According to DiCarlo, for this, the support of all 15 members of the Security Council of this organization is needed, but the issue of appointing a special representative for Afghanistan is not over, and she wants the United Nations to take steps in this regard.

It was expected that the appointment of a special representative would also be discussed at the third Doha meeting.

Meanwhile, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the United Nations Deputy Mission in Afghanistan or UNAMA met with Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kabul and discussed the points of the agenda and other issues including the composition of the delegation of the Islamic Emirate at the Doha meeting.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the head of UNAMA was quoted as saying she considered the Doha meeting to be a suitable opportunity for the parties to express their views on issues related to Afghanistan.

Matthew Miller, the spokesperson of the United States Department of State, says that the US special representatives for Afghanistan, Thomas West and Rina Amiri, will participate in the third Doha meeting, and the purpose of the US presence in this meeting is to emphasize the need for the current government of Afghanistan to fulfill its commitments.

“America will participate in this meeting. Both our special representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, and the US special representative for Afghan women and girls, Rina Amiri, will participate in this meeting.

“We participate in this meeting to pressure the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) together with the international community to fulfill their obligations to the Doha Agreement, including their behavior towards women,” said Miller.

Previously, Rina Amiri, the US special representative for women, girls and human rights in Afghanistan, said that until the issue of human rights is included in the agenda of the future talks in Afghanistan, conflicts will continue in this country.

Rights groups have however criticized the UN for not having Afghan women at the table with the Islamic Emirate in Doha.

But UN officials and the country envoys attending the meeting are due to meet separately with Afghan civil society groups.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the IEA’s spokesman, will lead Afghanistan’s delegation to the meeting.