A man rides his loaded tricycle next to three schoolgirls in Shanghai on December 11, 2015. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

A participant rests while people take part in the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York, June 20, 2015. The annual parade, founded in 1983, seeks to bring mythology to life for residents, create confidence in the district and to allow artistic self-expression in public, according to the parade's website. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Rwandan refugees cross the Rusumo border to Tanzania from Rwanda carrying their belongings, goats, mattresses and cows, May 30, 1994. The bloodshed that claimed 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu lives began 25 years ago on April 7, 1994, when a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira and a French air crew was shot down. (Photo by Jeremiah Kamau/Reuters)

A man poses for a photograph in front of a mural of Democrat US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton clad in a swimsuit bearing the colours of the US flag in West Footscray in Melbourne on July 30, 2016. An Australian mural of US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a revealing, stars and stripes swimsuit may be taken down, after it has reportedly been deemed offensive. (Photo by Paul Crock/AFP Photo)

A delegate dressed in a furry Lion costume walks across a Zebra crossing to the convention centre at the Eurofurence convention in Berlin on August 17, 2017. Some 2700 delegates are taking part in the 3-day-long Eurofurence in the German capital, the worlds oldest active Furry-convention for people dressing up in furry costumes. (Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP Photo)

Howard Jackson, a Liberian migrant, poses for a portrait in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain March 7, 2016. Jackson escaped civil war and spent three years crossing Africa before reaching Spain. Dressed up in one of his more than 200 costumes, from Peter Pan to Little Red Riding Hood, he is a well-known figure at an intersection entering the Spanish city of Seville where he has sold tissues to motorists for over a decade. Jackson is studying law and wants to become a judge. (Photo by Marcelo del Pozo/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.

Two cocks are trained for a fight in a village in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand January 10, 2017. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)