A young trumpeter joins the Anglican Church band as the coffin of late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu arrives outside the St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, 31 December 2021. The anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was a key figure in the dismantling of apartheid, died on 26 December 2021 at the age of 90. A full state funeral will be held on 01 January 2022. (Photo by Nic Bothma/EPA/EFE)

Mali supporters cheer ahead of the Group F Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2021 football match between Mali and Mauritania at Stade de Japoma in Douala on January 20, 2022. (Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP Photo)

Cholita wrestlers stage a performance on the street during the Electropreste celebration, which combines traditional and modern customs, in La Paz, Bolivia on March 12, 2022. (Photo by Claudia Morales/Reuters)

A portrait of a young woman who died during a Russian attack is pictured with flowers next to her fresh grave in the cemetery of in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP 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.

A reveller takes part in the battle of “Enfarinats”, a flour fight in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival on December 28, 2015 in Ibi, Spain. Citizens of Ibi annually celebrate the festival with a battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

U.S. Marines kick in a door while securing a building next to the main hospital in central Baghdad April 15, 2003, which will be used as a temporary Iraqi police headquarters. (Photo by Jerry Lampen/Reuters)

People take a selfie at the abandoned former Soviet R12 nuclear missile launch site in Zeltini, Latvia, July 22, 2016. Hidden in the forests of Aluksne, near Latvia's north-eastern border with Russia, the remains of a former Soviet nuclear missile base are a magnet for tourists now rather than a top-secret site manned by soldiers. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)