Olivier Giroud of AC Milan scores the second goal during the Serie A TIM match between AC Milan and AS Roma – Serie A TIM at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on January 14, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters)

“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

Hair stylist Marcelo Avatte (R) prepares to fit Isidora Serrano, a 14-year-old who lost her hair due to chemotherapy to treat her bone cancer, with a natural hair wig in the cancer ward of the Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital in Santiago, October 23, 2014. The wigs, handmade by Italian-Chilean hair stylist Marcelo Avatte and his team, have helped the children regain their self-esteem and confidence during cancer treatment. Renowned for making customised wigs, Avatte has donated more than 300 wigs since 2009 and says he was motivated to begin the project by the pain he felt when his own son lost his hair during chemotherapy. (Photo by Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters)

Manuelle aka the Snake Woman poses for photographs with a beer as she promotes the fnnual Beer Festival Oktoberfest in Cologne, Germany on September 22, 2014. (Photo by Federico Gambarini/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Workers carry a metal sheet at a dockyard in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 5, 2018. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

A mahout rides on an elephant in the city of Amritsar, India, 08 November 2015. Such elephants are often accompanied by their caretakers who ask for alms from people in the streets. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA)

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 mahout rides an elephant among the traffic down a street in Piliyandala, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on September 27, 2020. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)