Participants in the Afghanistan Independence Day celebration held at the Ministry of National Defense in Kabul, Aug. 19, carry a floral wreath to be placed at the base of a marble independence memorial. President Hamid Karzai, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of NATO and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker attended the ceremony. Afghan Independence Day is celebrated in Afghanistan Aug. 19 to commemorate the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919. The treaty granted independence from Britain; although Afghanistan was never officially a part of the British Empire.