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.

Afghanistan had become a British protectorate after the Treaty of Gandamak was signed (1879) in the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

[3] After this defeat, the British-Indian forces returned to Afghanistan on a special mission to rescue their prisoners of war (POWs) and then withdrew.

The British were given control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs in exchange for protection against the Russians and Persians.

The Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 led the British to give up control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs finally in 1921.