A couple sits on a swing during stormy weather along a beach by the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza City on December 8, 2021. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP Photo)

Two people sit in an ambulance waiting to be treated after a Grad rocket slammed into a shopping mall in Donetsk's Kubishevski district, in the eastern Ukraine, on October 8, 2014. At least two people were killed, and five were injured after some six Grad rockets hit the area. (Photo by John Macdougall/AFP Photo)

School children dressed in traditional attire eat breakfast before participating in a Republic day parade in Bangalore, India, Thursday, January 26, 2017. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP 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.

Evel Knievel is shown in his rocket before his failed attempt at a highly promoted 3/4-mile leap across Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho, on September 8, 1974. The jump failed when the parachute on his rocket malfunctioned, opening prematurely. Knievel was uninjured. (Photo by AP Photo)

A dancer attends the final rehearsal for the new “VIVID Grand Show” at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany, September 26, 2018. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Wu Lingling, a nurse from Central Hospital of Shanghai Fengxian District says goodbye to her husband Zhao Kun before leaving for Wuhan at Shanghai South Railway Station in east China's Shanghai, January 27, 2020. A team comprised of 50 medical workers from 40 hospitals in Shanghai left for Wuhan City on Monday to aid the novel coronavirus control efforts there. (Photo by Ding Ting/Xinhua News AgencyAlamy Live News)

An Indian policeman wearing a virus themed helmet rides on a horse during an awareness rally aimed at preventing the spread of new coronavirus in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, April 2, 2020. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)