"Today is our independence day from Britain. They recognised our independence 92 years ago; today's attack was marking that day," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Agence France Press.
"Now the British have invaded our country again and they will recognise our independence day again," he said.
Afghan Independence Day is celebrated as a public holiday on August 19. It marks the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi, under which the British government recognised Afghanistan's sovereignty and granted it control of its own foreign policy.
Afghanistan was never part of the British empire but was invaded three times by the British between 1839 and 1919 as part of the Britain's struggle for influence in Central Asia against Russia.
The Treaty ended the month-long Third Anglo-Afghan war and agreed that the British empire would never reach beyond the Khyber Pass.
In 2008, a Taliban suicide attack outside a US military base on Afghan Independence Day in the eastern province of Khost killed 10 Afghan labourers and injured 13.
In 2009, in a surge of violence on the eve of Afghan presidential elections, Taliban gunmen attacked a central Kabul bank with rifles and hand grenades, killing three staff.
Last year the day was marked by suicide attacks which killed the police chief of the Daman province, Kandahar, and the Border and Tribal affairs chief of the Zabul province.
Amongst the Afghan disapora, today is known is Afghan Refugee Day. Families exchange presents and play traditional games to remember their heritage.