Dancers from the “Legend Lin Dance Theatre” perform the artistic director and choreographer Li-chen Lin's classic works “Hymne aux Fleurs qui Passent, Anthem to the Fading Flowers” during a rehearsal at the National Theater Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, August 18, 2015. “Hymne aux Fleurs Qui Passent” pays tribute to the cycle of the year and the complementary principles of Yin and Yang whose eternal struggle provides the driving force behind the changing of the seasons. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

Karis, an 8 week old lion cub, growls at a pumpkin as she explores a Halloween treat put in her enclosure by staff at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling, Scotland, Tuesday, October 29, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/AP Photo/PA Wire)

Women playing in the street as the snow falls on Johannesburg for the first time in seventeen years. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1st September 1962

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.

Chamrock, an Irish wolfhound, sports a green coat as he waits for the start of the St. Patrick's Day parade on March 17, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Tens of thousands took advantage of record high temperatures and sunny weather to attend the city's annual St. Patrick's Day celebration. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)

A young girl is rescued from a collapsed building after an earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, Saturday, February 6, 2016. A powerful, shallow earthquake struck southern Taiwan before dawn Saturday. (Photo by Wally Santana/AP Photo)

“Horst Faas (28 April 1933 – 10 May 2012) was a German photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best-known for his images of the Vietnam War”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. crewman runs from a crashed CH-21 Shawnee troop helicopter near the village of Ca Mau in the southern tip of South Vietnam, December 11, 1962. Two helicopters crashed without serious injuries during a government raid on the Viet Cong-infiltrated area. Both helicopters were destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands. (Photo by AP Photo/Horst Faas)

This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)