Senior Taliban figures confirmed on Tuesday they had released a new video appearing to show a kidnapped American-Canadian family, including two young boys born in captivity while held by the feared Haqqani network.
Reuters could not independently verify the video, which was taken from the website of the SITE Intelligence Group.
It showed for the first time the two sons of Canadian Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman, a U.S citizen.
Coleman, 31, was pregnant when the couple were abducted in 2012 inside Afghanistan while on a backpacking trip.
A Canadian spokesman said the government was reviewing the video, while U.S. officials would not immediately comment.
In the video, Coleman begs for an end to their "Kafkaesque nightmare" and is critical of both the American and Canadian governments and the family's Haqqani captors.
"We understand both sides hate us and are content to leave us and our two surviving children in these problems," she said.
"But we can only ask and pray that somebody will recognize the atrocities these men carry out against us as so-called retaliation in their ingratitude and hypocrisy."
The two young boys - who, along with their parents, appeared healthy - fidgeted on their father's lap as Coleman added: "My children have seen their mother defiled."
Two senior Taliban figures based in Afghanistan told Reuters by telephone that the video had been uploaded by the radical Islamist insurgents, who are fighting to topple the U.S-backed government in Kabul.
One said the video came from the Haqqani network - a close affiliate of the Afghan Taliban - and it had been delivered to both U.S and Canadian officials before being posted on YouTube late Monday night.
He said the Haqqani network is demanding the release of three of its senior members - including the brother and maternal uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban.
Coleman appealed to both President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump to make a deal with their captors.
"They want money, power, friends. You must give them these things before progress can be made."
Joshua Boyle was quoted as saying: "And to whichever State Department official has to watch this video -- we both know the President is not going to see it, or the coming President and that the decision ultimately, probably lies with you but there's no point in explaining that to our captors.
“And I'm sure you think that my family could get out of this if we wanted, and I can only promise you that we can't.
“You, like us, probably underestimate the arrogant ignorance that pervades these people and don't understand that we're dealing with the people who think that American killed all the monkeys in their country and the drones are listening to them sleep at night.
“There is no point in explaining to them that we are the worst (incomprehensible) to try and have a prisoner exchange with. They really will not settle this until they get what they are demanding so I can only ask that you please quickly try to resolve this for our sake and for the sake of our children, and we can talk about compensation later.
“But, it has been more than four years and so I do plead with you to please be quick."
U.S officials declined to comment on the new video but referred reporters to statements made by State Department spokesman John Kirby after the last video of the couple released in late August.
In those statements, Kirby called for the family's "immediate release on humanitarian grounds" and said the U.S would "continue to work aggressively" to bring all American hostages home.
The closing message written on the screen states: "This is a clear message!! The release of the couple and their children will not come into realization until all our demands are met!"