Girls rest on stairs at the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy) in Shanghai, China July 27, 2017. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A model poses for a photographer backstage ahead of the Ferreira Couture catwalk show at Malta Fashion Week in Valletta, Malta on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)

England football fans celebrate in Trafalgar Square as England score their second goal during extra time in the UEFA Euro womens championship final on July 31, 2022 in London, United Kingdom. England take on Germany in the final of The UEFA European Women's Championship, played at Wembley Stadium. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Participants in costumes arrive at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Britain, 29 August 2022. The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street carnival in Europe and returned to London after two year break due to the coronavirus pandemic with more than a million people expected to attend the two-day celebration of Caribbean heritage on 28 and 29 August. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA/EFE)

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.

ATTENTION PLEASE! This publication is NOT about cute animals! This is a compilation of photographs of DIFFERENT content! Some photos may SHOCK YOU.

Photo: An eleven-week-old lion cub growls as she plays with a stuffed toy at the San Francisco Zoo April 25, 2003 in San Francisco, California. The cub's mother, Kita, died two days after giving birth to her and her brother. Zookeepers have hand fed and cared for the two surviving cubs around the clock since their mother died. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Protestor Bill Maloney (L) shouts during a live TV broadcast by BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Norman Smith after earlier forcing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to abandon a photocall near Parliament on March 19, 2014 in London, England. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne has delivered his Budget statement to Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

A Rajasthani folk dance artist performs while standing on two glasses during the “Dhora Ri Mahak” festival in Bhopal, India, 07 January 2015. The event is being organised by the “Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya” anthropology museum. (Photo by Sanjeev Gupta/EPA)