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.

Interesting photos which can't be united in a certain series quite often come across to me. Therefore I publish simply a small group of separate pictures – enjoy, if it's interesting to you. Photo: “Road Trip!” (Photo by Thad Lawrence)

Labrador puppies “Hoey” (L) and “Hatton”, named in honor of September 11, 2001 attack victims Patrick Hoey and Lenny Hatton who died in the World Trade Center, are pictured on the grounds of the Pentagon near Washington, June 28, 2011. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

A worker spreads paddy crop for drying in a rice mill complex on the outskirts of Ahmedabad February 3, 2011. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Voodoo followers, called Pitit Fey, attend a ceremony during the Day of the Dead celebrations at the Meyotte cemetery in Kay Gouye, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 1, 2021. (Photo by Claudia Daut/Reuters)

People board a passenger bus during rush hour at a bus terminal, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Mumbai, India, September 9, 2020. (Photo by Niharika Kulkarni/Reuters)

Workers sleep on a railway track under repair in New Delhi, India, June 15, 2018. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Reuters)

A guard secures gates of a catfish farm visited by a group of foreign reporters in Pyongyang, North Korea April 17, 2017. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)