A water buffalo is pictured across from the Nahr Bin Omar oilfield in Iraq's southern province of Basra on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

A woman uses her mobile phone as she walks past a billboard with a portrait of a Russian soldier and the words “Glory to the heroes of Russia” in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, August 20, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A hostage runs towards a police officer outside Lindt cafe, where other hostages are being held, in Martin Place in central Sydney December 15, 2014. Two more hostages have run out of the cafe at the center of a siege in Sydney, Australia's largest city, according to a Reuters witness at the site. The two women were both wearing aprons indicating they were staff at the Lindt cafe where a gunman has been holding an unknown number of hostages for several hours. Three men had earlier run out of the cafe. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

A rider on horseback competes in the Margalla Festival Tent Pegging Championship in Islamabad, Pakistan, June 5, 2016. Tent pegging is an equestrian sport popular in India and Pakistan, with a history going back to the cavalries of ancient armies. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)

The hot air balloon “Hopper T Frog” from Park City, Utah, peeks over the red rock cliffs during the 23nd Annual Red Rock Balloon Rally at Red Rock State Park December 6, 2003 near Gallup, New Mexico. (Photo By Douglas Tesner/Getty Images)

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.

Stuart Craig of Washington tries out a Sig Sauer 1911 model Scorpion pistol at the Sig Sauer booth at the National Shooting Sports Foundation's 34th annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show at the Sands Expo and Convention Center January 17, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SHOT Show is the largest annual gathering of shooting professionals with more than 1,600 exhibitors and 30,000 attendees expected. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)