“The Buran program was a Soviet and later Russian reusable spacecraft project that began in 1974 at TsAGI and was formally suspended in 1993. It was a response to the United States Space Shuttle program”. – Wikipedia

Photo by: These Pictures are Entirely Bad ; Source: Flickr

A young Chinese girl dressed in Christmas costume, hugs a pedestrian on a street to celebrate Christmas in Nanjing city, east China's Jiangsu province, 23 December 2015. (Photo by Imaginechina/Splash News)

Bottlenose dolphins swim over visitors in water tank at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Temperatures in Tokyo's metropolitan area neared around 96 degree Fahrenheit, or 35 degree Celsius, on Tuesday. (Photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP Photo)

Students exercise in body training at Bishan Vocational Education Center in Chongqing, southwest China, January 13, 2016. These students were trained to be stewardesses of the high-speed train. (Photo by Xie Jie/Xinhua)

Storm clouds gather over the scene outside the Jewish Community Center in Leawood, Kansas following a shooting, on April 13, 2014. (Photo by John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT)

A rainbow is seen near a cloud south of Corvallis, Ore., Monday, May 19, 2014. (Photo by Andy Cripe/AP Photo/The Corvallis Gazette-Times)

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 student of the Orchestra of Recycled Instruments of Cateura holds an instrument made from recycled material by craftsman Nicolas Gomez, in Cateura, near Asuncion, May 9, 2013. The orchestra is the brainchild of its conductor Favio Chavez, who wanted to help the children of garbage pickers at the local landfill, and the instruments are made from salvaged materials by craftsman Gomez. The orchestra now involves 30 schoolchildren who have toured countries in Latin America, North America and Europe to play music ranging from Beethoven and Mozart to the Beatles and Paraguayan folk songs. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)