The Taliban has admitted that it has two American prisoners, whose freedom it will only grant in return for the release of “Osama Bin Laden’s special aide”, who is in Guantánamo Bay, local media reported.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, is heard in an audio recording saying that “an Afghan is imprisoned in Guantánamo”, according to reports by Amu TV, an independent multimedia channel run by Afghan journalists.

In the recording, he added: “Two Americans are imprisoned here. They ask us to release them safely. We say: release our prisoner safely too – why won’t you?”

The Telegraph could not independently verify the audio and has reached out to the Taliban for comment.

The identities of the American prisoners were not disclosed, but at least two Americans remain missing in Afghanistan: Paul Overby and Mahmood Habibi.

Mr Overby, 74, was last seen in Khost City, Afghanistan, in May 2014. He disappeared on his way to North Waziristan, Pakistan, to meet and interview Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban leader of the Haqqani network, for a book on the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan.

Mr Habibi disappeared in 2022, a day after the US drone strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul’s Sherpur area. The Taliban accused him of aiding US forces in targeting the al-Qaeda leader.

The Taliban has consistently denied claims that it is holding them prisoner.