US officials: New intel shows the Taliban has no intentions of abiding by peace deal

The U.S. government has collected "persuasive intelligence" that the Taliban do not intend to honor commitments it made in recent peace deal negotiations with the United States, NBC News reported Friday afternoon.

"They have no intention of abiding by their agreement," one official who was briefed on the intel told the news outlet. Two other officials reportedly described the intelligence as explicit evidence demonstrating the Taliban's true intentions.

The report did not go into further detail about the nature of the intelligence or about what it indicated the Taliban's plans to be.

The peace deal signed between the U.S. and the Taliban last week signaled the end of a decadeslong war in Afghanistan. The U.S., along with Britain, agreed to gradually withdraw all their troops from the country and the Taliban were to honor the cease-fire and to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government.

At the time, President Trump acknowledged the possibility that the Taliban would renege on those promises and overrun the country once the U.S. military withdrew.

"Well, you know, eventually countries have to take care of themselves," Trump recently told reporters at the White House. "We can't be there for the next — another 20 years. We've been there for 20 years, and we've been protecting the country ... eventually they're going to have to protect themselves."

"You can only hold somebody's hand for so long. We have to get back to running our country, too," he added.

The United States first sent armed forces into Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the September 11 attacks in New York City. Those attacks, which killed over 3,000 Americans, were carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists who the Taliban allowed to operate within the country.