The Taliban has denied that any US or British special forces had entered territory under its control.
Qatar's al-Jazeeratelevision reported earlier that Afghan security forces had arrested three Americans from US special forces and two Afghan guides who were apparently scouting around in western Afghanistan near the Iran border.
"It is totally wrong, we deny this news that they have come to our areas," Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the Taliban defence minister, said in Kabul.
Mullah Obaidullah did not rule out the possibility that some foreign forces could be in regions held by anti-Taliban forces north of Kabul and in the rugged areas of the northeast near the border with Tajikistan.
The TV station, used in the past by bin Laden for publicity, said a military source from bin Laden's group telephoned its correspondent in Islamabad and said the three Americans were from the US special forces and had modern weapons and some maps of al-Qaida sites.
A senior source in the White House said yesterday that four and five-man teams were already in Afghanistan scouting out possible targets and paving the way for strikes on the Taliban regime. The troops were said not to be actively hunting Osama bin Laden.
The other two men are claimed to be Afghans who were training in the US special forces and have US citizenship.