“North and South Korea staged dueling war games Monday as threatening rhetoric from the rivals rose to the highest level since North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island in 2010”. – Associated Press. Photo: North Korean soldiers with weapons attend military training in an undisclosed location in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang March 11, 2013. South Korea and U.S. forces are conducting large-scale military drills until the end of April, while the North is also gearing up for a massive state-wide military exercise. North Korea has accused the U.S. of using the military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has threatened to scrap the armistice with Washington that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. (Photo by KCNA/Reuters)

A woman, with her face covered with colored powders, dances during the Holi Festival of Colors in Lisbon, Sunday, September 15 2013. The festival, which is mainly celebrated during the Hindu spring festival Holi in some regions of India and Nepal, has become popular among people in other communities. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

A C-17 Globemaster III crew prepares an air refueling mission September 27, 2012, at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. (Photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew J. Bruch/U.S. Air Force photo)

People sit on the top of a truck heavily piled with corn-stalks plies as they head for Mogadishu from Afgooye on October 19, 2016. At least four police officers were killed on October 18 when a suicide bomb attacker rammed an explosives-packed car into a police station before fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group subsequently stormed the area killing at least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians. (Photo by Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP 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.

Undated handout photo issued by Andrew H Williams/WPR of resident Rosemary Lester at Sherwood Grange care home in Kingston Vale, south west London, focusses her attention during a nude life drawing class. Issue date: Monday July 25, 2022. (Photo by Andrew H Williams/Care UK/PA Wire)

A woman walks against blowing snow in Evanston, Illinois, on February 8, 2014. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

World War II veterans danced during Victory Day celebrations in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, May 9, 2013. Belarus and other former Soviet countries celebrated the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany on Thursday. (Photo by Viktor Drachev/AFP Photo)