Young Legong dancer portrait, Ubud, Bali on October 25, 2023. While the childrens' parents are out working, in pursuits including farming, fishing and clothes making, their offspring spend the long sunny days making their own fun, and as these pictures show not a minute is wasted. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)

A toque macaque is eating flowers in the water at the pilgrimage site in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, on January 13, 2024. The toque macaque (Macaca sinica), a reddish-brown-colored Old World monkey, is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is known as the rilewa or rilawa. It is named for the whorl of hair at the crown of its head, which resembles a brimless toque cap. (Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

A Russian peacekeeper shouts “No pictures!” at a checkpoint outside the city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020, during a ceasefire in the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian began deploying 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10 after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a peace deal to end weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed region. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)

Elsa, Dolly, Jeanie, Vince, Titch and Bailey savour seaside smells at Reculver Towers and Roman Fort, Kent, United Kingdom on February 23, 2021. The southeast of England will be warm again. (Photo by Liz Gregg/Triangle News)

A driver pulls a handgun on protesters after they broke his trucks lights on March 28, 2021 in Salem, Oregon. The protesters clashed with occupants of vehicles that had participated in an American flag-waving car caravan, despite law enforcements efforts to to keep the groups separate. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

A woman gets a throat swab during a public COVID testing outside a shopping mall on Sunday, May 22, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A Boeing 777-300 from Swiss International Airlines lands on a foggy morning at Zurich Airport, on Friday, October 13, 2017, in Zurich, Switzerland. The high humidity renders the air vortex visible. (Photo by Christian Merz/Keystone via AP Photo)