Students wearing traditional costumes celebrate on the eve of “Ugadi” festival, or new year's day as per the Hindu lunisolar calendar, in Chennai on April 1, 2022. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

People enjoy their time near the Arcadia stage at the Glastonbury Festival site in Somerset, Britain on June 24, 2023. (Photo by Jason Cairnduff/Reuters)

Revellers dance at a rave party in central Kyiv, Ukraine on August 27, 2022. (Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters)

Kamal Khatib, a volunteer with the Animals Lebanon rescue group, kisses kittens after rescuing them from debris of destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, October 11, 2024. (Photo by Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)

Bystanders look at the wreckage of a bus in Noshki town of Balochistan province on March 17, 2025, a day after an explosives laden car hit one of the seven buses of a convoy, a bombing carried out allegedly by the separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). Separatists in southwest Pakistan killed at least five paramilitaries and wounded more than 30 on March 16, police told AFP, days after an attack on a train in Balochistan province left dozens dead. (Photo by AFP Photo)

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.

Young Slovaks dressed in traditional costumes throw a bucket of water at a girl as part of Easter celebrations in the village of Trencianska Tepla, Slovakia, April 9, 2012. Slovakia's men splash women with water to symbolize youth, strength and beauty for the upcoming spring season. (Photo by Samuel Kubani/AFP)

Resident Taina holds her brother Ysaque in the hallway outside their apartment in an occupied building in the Mangueira “favela” community on August 13, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)