Afghanistan celebrated its first independence day since the fall of the Taliban today.
On what was the 83rd anniversary of independence from British colonial rule, President Mr Hamid Karzai paid homage to millions of Afghans who died fighting foreign occupation.
After three wars against Britain, in which more than 30,000 British soldiers died, Afghanistan won independence in 1919.
Tens of thousands of Afghans descended on Kabul sports stadium, once the scene of public Taliban executions and showing the marks of heavy shelling, to watch martial arts and parachute displays, a student parade and firing of old rifles seized from the British.
But the traditional military parade in Kabul was cancelled to save money.
Pictures of Ahmad Shah Masood, the revered anti-Taliban commander and official national hero of Afghanistan, who was killed last year, adorned many of the city's main road junctions.
The celebrations took place amid tight security bolstered by US and international troops charged with maintaining stability in Afghanistan.
A US-led military coalition force of about 12,000 is still in Afghanistan searching for Taliban and Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.