Cosplayers dressed as characters from the Star Wars movie series visit patients during a charity event organised by non-profit group 501st Legion, at East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon city, metro Manila December 6, 2015. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in the “Els Enfarinats” battle in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi on December 28, 2017. During this 200-year-old traditional festival participants known as Els Enfarinats (those covered in flour) dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d'etat as they battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the town hall as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Innocents. (Photo by Jaime Reina/AFP Photo)

A US Marine leads two Viet Cong suspects in restraints during the Tet Offensive on February 20, 1967. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Medic James E. Callahan of Pittsfield, Mass., gives mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dying soldier in war zone D, about 50 miles northeast of Saigon, June 17, 1967. Thirty-one men of the 1st Infantry Division were reported killed in the guerrilla ambush, with more than 100 wounded. (Photo by Henri Huet/AP Photo)

Police investigators inspect the bodies of two men lying on a sidewalk, who police said were killed after a drug “Shabu” (Methamphetamine Chloride) buy-bust operation in Quezon city, Metro Manila Philippines, October 9, 2016. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Reuters)

A Pasola rider reacts after throwing his spear during the Pasola war festival at Ratenggaro village on March 22, 2014 in Sumba Island, Indonesia. The Pasola Festival is an important annual event to welcome the new harvest season, which coincides with the arrival of “Nyale” sea worms during February or March each year. Pasola, an ancient ritual fighting game, involves two teams of men on horseback charging towards each other while trying to hit their rivals with “pasol” javelins and avoid being hit themselves. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/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.

A suspected street robber is arrested by a policeman after a brief chase in the streets, June 20, 2016, in Manila, Philippines. The president-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, declared a war on crime and drugs after sweeping an election on May 9 and has been living up to his nickname, “the punisher”. Philippine police have been conducting night raids almost on a daily basis and revived a curfew for minors that had not been enforced for years, rounding up minors drinking on the streets. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)