A Russian prisoner eating bread. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Finland, circa 1940

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 boy evacuates to safer grounds at the onslaught of Typhoon Rammasun (locally known as Glenda) which battered the city Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

England supporters in the Flat Iron Square pub in London react to events in Kaliningrad, where England and Belgium play to decide the winner of Group G in the Russia 2018 World Cup on June 28, 2018. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

Figure Skating, ISU World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies Short Program, Boston, Massachusetts, United States on March 31, 2016: Ashley Wagner of the United States stumbles and falls while celebrating after competing. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

A workman walks past a large mural on the side of a building during the “Sand Sea & Spray” Urban Art Festival in Blackpool, north west England on July 11, 2015. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

People look at French artist Clement Briend's photographic light installation “Divine Trees”, which features images of divine figures highly revered in Asian cultures projected on trees towering over bystanders, during a media preview of the Singapore Night Festival in Singapore August 21, 2014. The Singapore Night Festival begins on Friday. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

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)