Young monks play inside the Punakha Dzong, Bhutan, April 17, 2016. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

Young girls carry containers filled with drinking water beside the railway station in Agartala, India, April 20, 2016. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

In this Wednesday, May 23, 2012 photograph, a young deer and a cat share a moment in Feench village near Jodhpur, Rajasthan state, India. (Photo by AP Photo)

North Kenya, Liboi. A young Somali refugee crosses a field filled with marabous storks in July 1992. (Photo by Jean-Claude Coutausse)

Young siblings in costume fully embrace the Notting Hill carnival atmosphere in London, England on August 28, 2023. (Photo by Nico Froehlich/The Guardian)

Members of the Mayossa folk dance group pour water on a young woman in Kiskunmajsa, Hungary on April 2, 2018. According to an old Hungarian tradition, celebrated for several hundred years, young men pour water on young women, who in exchange present their sprinklers with beautifully colored eggs on Easter Monday. (Photo by Sandor Ujvari/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

To the woman presented a flower in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on March 8, 2013. Activists presented this day on the street free 155 tulips to women. The police tried to arrest activists for illegal trade as couldn't believe in free distribution of flowers. (Photo by Sergey Anashkevitch)

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.