Kashmiri woman takes part in a physical test of a recruitment rally for the Special Police Officers (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir Police, in Srinagar on December 6, 2019. As many as 23,000 people have applied for posts in the Special Police Officers (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir Police and 100 positions will filled in the current phase of recruitment, local authorities said. (Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP Photo)

People are captured by FLIR (Forward-Looking Infrared) HD Thermal Imaging Cameras as they walk near the FLIR exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019 in Las Vegas on January 10, 2019. (Photo by David McNew/AFP Photo)

Nico Martin with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas fairy lights, at Greenfield Farm in Christmas Common, Oxfordshire on November 9, 2021. Nico, from Bracknell in Berkshire, has wrapped his own Mini in lights for the last two years, raising money for the MS Trust and for Duchenne UK. This year Mini are supporting Nico, providing him with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas lights ready for him to take out on the road. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)

Tourists sit around a bonfire on the Makgadikgadi salt pan in Botswana. (Photo by Yang Mengxi/Xinhua News Agency/Barcroft Media)

A serviceman of Ukraine's coast guard mans a gun on a patrol boat as a cargo ship passes by in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Peter/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 Ukrainian gunner sits in his 2S1 Gvozdika (122-mm self-propelled howitzer) on the front line in Southern Ukraine on October 8, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Nayev holds puppies as he visits at positions near the border with Belarus, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zhytomyr region, Ukraine on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)