Confirmed: Taliban executed 22 Afghan commandos at once

The Taliban executed 22 Afghan commandos en masse on June 16 in the northern province of Faryab.The Taliban executed 22 Afghan commandos en masse on June 16 in the northern province of Faryab. Both the Red Cross and the Afghan Ministry of Defense confirmed the accuracy of the count to CNN this week.

In mid-June, the Afghan Special Forces Unit became tangled with members of the Taliban in the district of Dawlat Abad. The commandos planned for backup by establishing a direct line for air support, which they never received.

Once the Taliban encircled them, the unit quickly ran out of ammunition and conceded. No options left, the commandos walked out to surrender face-to-face.

Almost immediately after the unit showed their hands, the Taliban forces butchered them all.

The Video

In the video footage of the event, the commandos carefully step into view with their hands raised and no weapons in sight. The Taliban are heard telling the group to surrender, right before slaying them and leaving their bodies strewn across the sand.

At the end of the footage, a voice off-camera says: “Take everything off them.” And in a separate video, another man is heard telling someone: “Open his body armor.”

It is obvious that the commandos’ bodies were pillaged for gear. This is completely in character for the Taliban, given the seizures that trail behind the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesperson denied the video’s authenticity. They claimed that, “The report is from a fake scene combined with footage from another where 22 commandos were killed during clashes while carrying out an operation in Faryab province.”

Afghan Ministry of Defence spokesperson Fawad Aman dismissed the spokesperson’s claims.

In a statement to CNN, Aman said, “The Taliban cannot deny this crime. The video clearly shows the Taliban executing our soldiers after surrender.”