Afghan Independence Day is celebrated as a national holiday in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

on 19 August to commemorate the

Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi, was a treaty which brought the Third Anglo-Afghan War to an end. It was signed on 8 August 1919 in Rawalpindi by the United Kingdom and the Emirate of Afghanistan. Britain r ...

and relinquishment from British protectorate status. The treaty granted a complete neutral relation between

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Afghanistan had become a British

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

after the

Treaty of Gandamak The Treaty of Gandamak (Dari: معاهده گندمک, Pashto: د گندمک تړون) officially ended the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Mohammad Yaqub Khan ceded various frontier areas to Britain while retaining full control of ...

was signed (1879) in the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

Background

The

First Anglo-Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession d ...

(1839–42) led to the British force taking and occupying Kabul. After this, due to strategic errors by Elphinstone, the British force was

annihilated The eighth season of the television series, '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' premiered September 19, 2006 and ended May 22, 2007 on NBC. The series remained in its 10pm/9c Tuesday timeslot. With the introduction of a new partner for Detecti ...

by Afghan forces under the command of Akbar Khan somewhere at the

Kabul–Jalalabad Road The Kabul–Jalalabad Road, also known as National Highway 08 (NH08), is a highway running between the Afghan cities of Kabul (the national capital) and Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan and capital of Nangarhar Province. A p ...

, near the city of

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...

. After this defeat, the British-Indian forces returned to Afghanistan on a special mission to rescue their prisoners of war (POWs) and afterward withdrew until coming back in order to commence the

. The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80) first led to a British defeat at

Maiwand Maiwand is a village in Afghanistan within the Maywand District of Kandahar Province. It is located 50 miles northwest of Kandahar, on the main Kandahar– Lashkargah road. The area is irrigated by the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority.

followed by their victory at the

Battle of Kandahar Battle of Kandahar may refer to: * Battle of Kandahar (1880), the last major conflict of the Second Anglo-Afghan War * Battle of Kandahar (2001), the fall of the city in 2001, signaling the end of organized Taliban control of Afghanistan * Battl ...

, which led to

Abdur Rahman Khan Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto/Dari: ) (between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901) was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Ag ...

becoming the new emir and the start of friendly British-Afghan relations. The British were given control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs in exchange for protection against the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

. The

Third Anglo-Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...

in 1919 led the British to give up control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs finally in 1921.

Observances

* The

Taq-e Zafar The Taq-e Zafar (Persian: طاق ظفر, English: Arch of Victory) is a triumphal arch located at the front of the gardens in Paghman, Afghanistan. The famous victory arch commemorates Afghan independence after the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 191 ...

was built in

Paghman Paghman (Persian/Pashto: پغمان) is a town in the hills near Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. It is the seat of the Paghman District (in the western part of Kabul Province) which has a population of about 120,000 (2002 official UNHCR est.), ma ...

to commemorate independence in 1928. * At the centenary anniversary in 2019, some international landmarks hoisted the Afghan flag tricolor, including the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. The day also coincidenced with the completion of the renovation of the

Darul Aman Palace Darul Aman Palace ( ps, د دارالامان ماڼۍ; prs, قصر دارالامان; 'Abode of Peace' or, in a double meaning, 'Abode of Amanllah) is a three-story-tall palace located in Darulaman, which about south-west of the centre of Ka ...

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, where official celebrations took place. * On 15 August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul and reinstated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. During the Afghan Independence Day rallies in Jalalabad and other cities on 18 and 19 August, the Taliban killed three people and injured over a dozen others for removing Taliban flags and displaying the tricolor Afghan flags.

Gallery

2011 Afghan Independence Day-4.jpg, 2011 2011 Afghan Independence Day-6.jpg, 2011 2011 Afghan Independence Day-7.jpg, 2011

References

Public holidays in Afghanistan Independence days August observances {{holiday-stub

Background

Observances

Gallery

See also

References