Afghan Independence Day

Afghanistan Independence Day
  • د افغانستان د خپلواکۍ ورځ
    Da Afġānistān da Khpalwakey wraz  (Pashto)
  • روز استقلال افغانستان
    Roz-e Isteqlal-e Afġānestān  (Persian)
President Hamid Karzai observing the honor guard of the Afghan Armed Forces during the 2011 Afghan Independence Day in Kabul
Observed by Afghanistan
SignificanceMarks Afghanistan's regaining of full independence from British influence in 1919
Date19 August
Next time19 August 2025 (2025-08-19)
Frequencyannual
Amanullah Khan, then Afghan emir who proclaimed independence

Afghan Independence Day is celebrated as a national holiday in Afghanistan on 19 August to commemorate the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919[1] and relinquishment from British Protected state status.[2] The treaty granted a complete neutral relation between Afghanistan and Britain. Afghanistan had become a British protectorate after the Treaty of Gandamak was signed (1879) in the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

  1. ^ "The World Factbook: Afghanistan". Central Intelligence Agency. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  2. ^ Onley, James (March 2009), "The Raj Reconsidered: British India's Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa" (PDF), Asian Affairs, 11 (1): 50