Girls Aloud: Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding and Cheryl Cole at Kimberley Walsh's birthday party hosted by Damian Darkko at Mint Nightclub in London, Britain on November 25, 2006. The Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding has died at the age of 39, her mother has said in a post on Instagram. Issue date: Sunday September 5, 2021. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A protester clashes with a police officer in Athens' central Syntagma (Constitution) Square in this June 15, 2011 file photo. Greece triggered the regional financial crisis in 2009 when a far higher budget deficit than previously calculated emerged. The collapse of talks with creditors in Paris last November set off a month-long sequence of events leading to elections this week and proving Greece is still the region's weak link. The vote is expected to be won by Syriza, a far-left party opposed to the bailout, worrying investors and creditors alike. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Christian pilgrims from Brazil embrace after they are baptized in the water of the Jordan River during a ceremony at the Yardenit baptismal site near the northern Israeli city of Tiberias October 15, 2014. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

“The Last Pollen Spore Preparing to Leave a Ladybug Trying to Hold On, Because It Didn't Want to Be Alone”. Photo by Hiep Nguyen Hoang (Hanoi, Vietnam). Photographed in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 2012.

A combination picture shows Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria, before it was damaged on March 12, 2009 (top) and after it was damaged (bottom) December 13, 2016. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

LONDON - JUNE 04: A piece entitled “Entrance into wood” by Elke Krystufek goes on show at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition on June 4, 2008 in London. In it's 240th year, the exhibition displays a wide range of recent work by both established and emerging artists. 10,000 artists submitted work for selection this year. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/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.

Nobby the polar bear cools down as he plays in a lake at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, England, Friday June 17, 2022. A blanket of hot air stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea is giving much of western Europe its first heat wave of the summer, with temperatures forecast to top 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) from Malaga to London on Friday. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Wire via AP Photo)