Racegoers react as they leave after the second day of the Grand National meeting at Aintree, northern England April 5, 2013. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Reuters)

ATTENTION: VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY AND DEATH

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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.

Daredevil motorcycle rider Captain Shivam Singh (C) from the “Tornadoes” motorcycle acrobatic team of the Indian Armed Forces comes out ablaze after catching fire while riding his bike through a tunnel of fire during an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records in Bangalore on November 10, 2020. Shivam Singh broke the Guinness Book of World Records passing 127 m and escaped with minor injuries. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)

Costumed revelers walk through a street prior to the carnival parade in the village of Vevcani, in the southwestern part of North Macedonia, on Wednesday, January 13, 2021. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the usual carnival celebrations which have been taken place for centuries in the tiny North Macedonian town of Vevcani. A few hundred locals gathered at the small town square to celebrate the carnival, but police dispersed the gathering after a brief scuffle with a small group. No arrests or injuries were reported. (Photo by Boris Grdanoski/AP Photo)

A man looks at a statue of the Greek god Poseidon on a beach during the passage of tropical storm Beryl in Progreso, on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, on July 5, 2024. Beryl weakened to a tropical storm Friday after hitting Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, with fierce winds causing material damage but no injuries along the tourist-rich Yucatan Peninsula. (Photo by Hugo Borges/AFP Photo)

Palestinian protesters take cover amid clashes with Israeli security forces during a raid in the old city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on May 9, 2023. The Israeli army said its troops had entered Nablus in the northern West Bank, with residents telling AFP they heard explosions during the raid. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated 145 injuries in Nablus, the majority from tear gas inhalation while a dozen people were shot with live fire. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP Photo)

A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported airstrike on April 27, 2016 in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo. The Syrian army was preparing an offensive to retake the whole of Aleppo, as fighting in the divided second city killed 38 civilians in a new blow for a tattered truce. Nearly 200 people have been killed in Aleppo in the past week as rebels have pounded government-held neighbourhoods with rocket and artillery fire and the regime has hit rebel areas with air raids. (Photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP Photo)

A Syrian migrant family enters Hungary at the border with Serbia near Roszke, Hungary August 28, 2015. As Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, Hungary has become, like Italy and Greece, a “frontline” state. So far this year, police say around 141,500 migrants have been intercepted crossing into Hungary, mostly from neighbouring Serbia. (Photo by Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)