President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE said Monday he would leave an intelligence presence in Afghanistan, though he has long hoped for a full withdrawal of U.S. military presence from the country.

"I would leave very strong intelligence there," Trump told Fox News's Tucker Carlson Tucker CarlsonJudge tosses Karen McDougal's defamation suit against Tucker Carlson OVERNIGHT ENERGY: House passes sweeping clean energy bill | Pebble Mine CEO resigns over secretly recorded comments about government officials | Corporations roll out climate goals amid growing pressure to deliver Former Florida attorney general calls Kyle Rittenhouse 'a little boy out there trying to protect his community' MORE in a wide-ranging interview that aired Monday night.

Trump said he'd like to "get out" of Afghanistan but added that it is a country with "a lot of good hiding places" and needs to be watched. ADVERTISEMENT

His comments follow reports of the Taliban pushing to rewrite a draft agreement under which the U.S. would withdraw troops from Afghanistan in exchange for pledges that Taliban leaders would help combat terrorism.

“We are working to rewrite the draft agreement and incorporate in it clauses that have been agreed upon,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press during peace talks in Qatar with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

Trump has pushed for taking troops out of Afghanistan since well before his presidency, tweeting in 2013, “Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA.”

In December, the Trump administration planned to withdraw forces from the country, but the proposal was met with resistance from Republican lawmakers.