Hindu devotees (not pictured) touch a child with their feet as part of a ritual to bless him during a religious procession held to mark the Gajan festival in Kolkata, India, April 13, 2018. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

(L-R) Madelaine Petsch, Julia Fox, Kacey Musgraves, Kim Petras and Aquaria attend the Moschino Prefall 2020 Runway Show front row at New York Transit Museum on December 09, 2019 in Brooklyn City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Moschino)

Arrow sports his new elastic booties at a PetSmart in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Phoenix radio station KSLX handed out the protective coverings to protect dogs' paws from the hot pavement, as temperatures in Phoenix are forecasted to hit 120 degrees (48°C). (Photo by Angie Wang/AP 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.

The vendors show the toy of snake at the Spring Festival Temple Fair for celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year of Snake at the Temple of Earth park on February 9, 2013 in Beijing, China. The Chinese Lunar New Year of Snake also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. (Photo by Feng Li)

Michelle Wie of the USA lines up a putt on the second hole during the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club on March 5, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Humboldt Penguins swim in their pool as a keeper looks on through a spherical window during the annual stocktake press preview at London Zoo in Regents Park in London Monday, January 4, 2016. A requirement of ZSL London Zoo's license, the annual audit takes keepers a week to complete and all of the information is shared with zoos around the world via the International Species Information System, where it's used to manage the worldwide breeding programmes for endangered animals. (Photo by Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, April 12, 2017, photo, waitresses wait outside a restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea. A generational divide is quietly growing in North Korea, often hidden behind relentless propaganda. On the streets there are young women in not-quite mini-skirts and teenage boys with baseball hats cocked sideways, K-pop style. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)