A racehorse is hoisted up before its operation at Veliefendi equine hospital in Istanbul March 3, 2015. A state-of-the-art hospital for hundreds of horses run by the Jockey Club of Turkey at Istanbul's Veliefendi racecourse is the country's oldest and biggest. Grooms and trainers at the equine clinic work with vets and nurses while owners hope their prize runners, often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, will recover quickly and then run faster still. (Photo by Murad Sezer/Reuters)

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 trader speaks on the phone at his desk at the Frankfurt stock exchange, Germany, in this June 29, 2015 file photo. Federal Reserve policymakers are widely seen raising interest rates for the first time in almost a decade at their next meeting this week. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)

A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) pose for a picture at a camp in the Colombian mountains on February 2005. (Photo by Frank Piasecki Poulsen)

A black bear cub performs for its mum at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife park in North Carolina, US in January 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Hadley/Animal News Agency)

The Christian Cowan Fall/Winter 2022 collection is modeled at the One World Trade Center during New York Fashion Week on Friday, February 11, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Photo)

Visitors watch a California sea lion at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park on Thursday May 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

A model has her hair sprayed backstage at the Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kyiv, Ukraine on August 31, 2020. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)