Artist and photographer Spencer Tunick, right, walks past models covering themselves with large leaves, as he talks about his next project at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, November 24, 2022. Tuncik is expecting to photograph thousands of nude people on Bondi Beach on Saturday. (Photo by Rick Rycroft/AP Photo)

People cool off by diving into a swimming pool on a hot summer day in Amritsar, India, on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

A young woman shows off her henna tattoos at the end of Eid al-Fitr prayers in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Members of the Romanian Muslim community joined prayers at the Dinamo stadium in the Romanian capital, in the largest Muslim public gathering of the year. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

Models prepare backstage before a presentation as part of Fashion Weekend Plus Size Summer 2015 collection show in Sao Paulo, July 25, 2015. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A reveller covered in tomato pulp participates in the annual “Tomatina” festival in the eastern town of Bunol, on August 28, 2019. The iconic fiesta, which is billed at “the world's biggest food fight” has become a major draw for foreigners, in particular from Britain, Japan and the United States. (Photo by Jaime Reina/AFP Photo)

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 boy rides on a snow wagon towed by a robot dressed as a Teddy bear, which only moves forward by moving its legs, during the Ice and snow carnival at Taoranting park in Beijing February 9, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A Tengger tribesman prays at Mount Bromo during the annual Kasada ceremony in East Java on August 12, 2014. The Kasada ceremony is a festival held every 14th day of the Kasada month in the traditional Hindu lunar calender to honour Sang Hyang Widhi (God Almighty) and is based on the legend of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger from the Majapahit Kingdom, from which their Tengger tribe name originates. Hundreds of worshippers from the Tengger tribe offer food and livestock as a symbolic sacrifice which they throw into the crater for the blessings of safety and prosperity to their familyies and community. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)