A baby elephant eats in a swamp in Amboseli national park, Kenya, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

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.

A Humboldt penguin stands on weighing scales whilst being photographed by members of the press during a photocall at the annual weigh-in at London Zoo in London, Britain, 24 August 2016. Every animal that is in the zoo is weighed and measured and the statistics recorded so the data can be shared with zoos across the world. (Photo by Hannah McKay/EPA)

A woman enjoys the sun at Plaka beach on the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece, Friday, May 14, 2021. Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns. (Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo)

A day-old lamb exploring new surroundings on the vernal equinox, considered the first day of spring, on March 20, 2019 at Coombes Farm in Lancing, England. (Photo by Andrew Hasson/Getty Images)

Peter Dinklage, left, and Lena Headey attend the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 20, 2015, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Alex Berliner/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)

Tightrope walker Tatian-Mosio Bongonga hangs from a tightrope as she pauses while scaling the Monmartre hill towards the Sacre Coeur Basilica (not pictured) in Paris, France, July 20, 2018. (Photo by Philippe Wojazer/Reuters)

A staff member demonstrates how she puts on the helmet of a mock space suit at the C-Space Project Mars simulation base in the Gobi Desert outside Jinchang, Gansu Province, China, April 17, 2019. The facility – comprising several interconnected modules including a greenhouse and a mock decompression chamber – opened its doors to the public. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)