“The 8th annual Water War on Friday in the center of Tel-Aviv, Israel turned into a battlefield, quite literally. As two thousand people were having fun in the square, some water-fighters took to more radical behavior, targeting passing cars, motorcycles and public buses”. – iReport.cnn.com (Photo by Sergey Demyanchuk)

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.

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.

India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers ride their camels during a rehearsal for the “Beating the Retreat” ceremony in New Delhi, India, January 27, 2016. The ceremony symbolises retreat after a day on the battlefield, and marks the official end of the Indian Republic Day celebrations. It is held every year on January 29. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) arrives at Heathrow Airport with his manager Frank DiLeo, on his Bad World Tour, 11th July 1988. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

A boy stands near the rotting carcass of a camel that that died of hunger which people had burned to stop the bad smell, in Belif, Garissa county, Kenya on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

A woman with her daughter walks past a barricade that was set up by members of the police as they protest bad police governance, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, January 26, 2023. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)

Visitors and a dog stand on the new “Skywalk” viewing platform on the Sonnenstein mountain in the Eichsfeld region near Bad Lauterberg im Harz, central Germany, on May 22, 2017. (Photo by Martin Schutt/AFP Photo/DPA)