An Indian priest worships six-year-old Hindu girl Anushka Chetterjee dressed as the Hindu goddess Durga at a “pandal” for the celebrations of the “Durga Puja” festival in Kolkata on September 28, 2017. The five-day Durga Puja festival, which commemorates the slaying of the demon king Mahishasur by the goddess Durga, marks the triumph of good over evil. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

A competitor walks on tightrope during a performance in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China, May 7, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Cracks are seen on one of the shrines at Swoyambhunath Stupa, a UNESCO world heritage site, after Saturday's earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal April 28, 2015. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/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.

British sculptor Laurence Edwards' striking bronze figures, Walking Men, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, UK on April 9, 2024. The 8ft tall figures are seen to be anti-heroic and seem to have come from the earth itself. Branches, leaves and clods of clay are woven through them, making it unclear where human and ground begin and end. (Photo by Pete Seaward/South West News Service)

Elephants munch on Christmas trees in their enclosure at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten Zoo on January 4, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Traditionally, the animals get in the first week of the year leftover Christmas trees. (Photo by Andreas Rentz)

A visitor takes photos of “Grecian Nude” by British artist Damien Hirst, as part of the exhibition “Archaeology Now” at Galleria Borghese in Rome on June 07, 2021. The exhibition, running through June 08 – November 07, 2021, features over 80 works from Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series, displayed throughout the museum alongside ancient masterpieces. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP Photo)

Chinese aids activists hand out condoms in a subway train in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on December 1, 2014. The World Health Organization issued a call to action to China on December 1, 2014 over HIV/AIDS as government figures said nearly half a million people are living with the disease or its precursor, with hundreds of thousands more thought to be undiagnosed. (Photo by AFP Photo)