Taliban fighters execute 22 Afghan commandos as they try to surrender

Dawlat Abad, Afghanistan CNN — Over clear but unsteady video, the words ring out: “Surrender, commandos, surrender.” Several men emerge from a building; they are clearly unarmed. In a statement to CNN Wednesday, Afghan Ministry of Defence spokesperson Fawad Aman said the executions constitute a “war crime.” “This is not the first time the Taliban have shot dead our soldiers. Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said: “This evidence suggests that the Taliban’s persistent claims to have changed their ways are predicated on a lie and completely undermines their claims that they will respect human rights in the peace process.” She added that Afghan authorities should “launch an immediate investigation into this reprehensible act,” and if they failed to bring perpetrators to justice, “the international community and the International Criminal Court must step in.” They ‘shot them all’ According to several witnesses interviewed by CNN in Dawlat Abad, the commandos were shot in cold blood. In a statement Monday, the Taliban said “thousands of soldiers” had “defected and embraced the open arms of the Islamic Emirate,” which it claims is the true leadership of the Afghan people. Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's National Security advisor “The reality is that these were areas largely surrounded that couldn’t be defended, they needed to be supplied by air, and those soldiers ran out of ammunition,” Mohib said.