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.

Rescuers work to put out fire outside a damaged residential building hit by recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Artem, a serviceman of infantry battalion of the 61st mechanised brigade, pets a dog in a trench at a position near the frontline, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine on January 6, 2024. (Photo by Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters)

An Iraqi camel herder poses in the desert of Samawa in Iraq's southern province of al-Muthanna on January 27, 2024. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Natalia, 51, a mother of three, serving as a combat medic in the 24th Mechanized Brigade takes part in a field training exercise in an undisclosed location in the eastern region of Ukraine, on March 18, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/AFP Photo)

A reveller attends the “Amigos da Onça” street party on the second day of Carnival on February 10, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

A dog is seen at the entrance of a house in the flooded residential area of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, near Paris, France January 26, 2018. The Paris region has been deeply affected by the floods that hit the country over the past week, but in Paris, it was business as usual. (Photo by Christian Hartmann/Reuters)

A Malaysian Royal Guard wears a protective mask while he stands guard outside National Palace, following the outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 10, 2020. (Photo by Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)