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KABUL: President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistan's Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the country's young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.
Karzai told tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital's sports stadium that Afghanistan's youth should "spend every second of their lives in learning" to maintain the country's cherished independence.
Reiterating condemnation of Taliban attacks on the 88th anniversary of full sovereignty from Britain, he warned there were "still plots against our independence by the enemies of this land".
Karzai denounced "the killing of innocent people – men, women and children," referring to the 15 people, including 11 civilians, killed in a Taliban-linked suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Although Afghanistan was never a full colony of Britain, London under a treaty, controlled its foreign affairs until August 19, 1919.
Afghans had earlier fought three wars against the British, the first starting in 1838 and the last ending months before the 1919 agreement.
Some 5,000 British troops currently form part of a 50,000-strong international force deployed in Afghanistan to combat a Taliban insurgency.
- AFP/so
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