The U.S. President Donald Trump has said the Taliban group could possibly seize power by overrunning the Afghan government after withdrawal of the U.S. forces.

Trump made the remarks during an interaction with the reports on Friday, days after Washington and Taliban group signed a peace deal in Qatar.

Responding to a question regarding eventual seizure of power from the Afghan government, Trump said it is “not supposed to happen that way but it possibly will”.

He also added “We can’t be there for the next 20 years. We’ve been there for 20 years and we’ve been protecting the country but we can’t be there for the next – eventually, they’re going to have to protect themselves.”

This comes as the U.S. and Taliban group recently signed a peace deal after observing a 7-day reduction in violence. The two sides signed the agreement after almost 18 months of negotiations in Qatari capital of Doha.

President Trump spoke with the deputy political chief of the Taliban group for 35 minutes, days after the signing of peace deal between Washington and Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Taliban group has announced it is committed to the launch of intra-Afghan talks if peace deal provisions are implemented.

The release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners was reportedly included in the agreement as one of the key prerequisites for the launch of intra-Afghan talks.

However, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani had earlier said only the Afghan government can decide regarding the release of Taliban prisoners.

Reacting to release of Taliban prisoners ahead of intra-Afghan talks, Ghani said last week the release of Taliban militants should not be included as a prerequisite for the launch of intra-Afghan talks.