President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday morning laid a wreath at the Minaret of Independence at the Ministry of Defense to mark Afghanistan’s 99th anniversary of independence.

The ceremony was attended by National Government leaders including CEO Abdullah Abdullah, first VP General Abdul Rashid Dostum, former President Hamid Karzai, Princess India d'Afghanistan, daughter of the late King Amanullah Khan, CEO’s Second Deputy Mohammad Mohaqiq, Chief Justice Sayed Yousuf Haleem and head of high court, National Security adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar, and other dignitaries including the Head of Afghanistan’s Ulema’s Council Qiamuddin Kashaf, a number of high-ranking officials and Presidential Palace advisers, parliament members and high court members, military officials, ambassadors and country representatives in Kabul. 

This comes as thousands of Afghans around the country celebrate the day.

Official ceremonies will take place in various parts of the country and thousands of families and friends will spend the day together to mark the event. 

In addition, a new flag, the biggest in the country, was hoisted on Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul on Sunday morning.  

Although Afghanistan was never part of the British Empire, it gained its independence from Britain after the signing of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty in 1919 – a treaty that granted complete neutral relations between Afghanistan and Britain.