Pakistani vendors carry animals in a bus for the upcoming Muslim festival Eid al-Adha in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, August 5, 2019. Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, is the most important Islamic holiday and marks the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham to Christians and Jews) to sacrifice his son. (Photo by K.M. Chaudhry/AP Photo)

A rescued malnourished sea lion is manually fed a fish at Sea World in San Diego, California March 17, 2015. Animal rescue centers in California are being inundated with stranded, starving sea lion pups, raising the possibility that the facilities could soon be overwhelmed, the federal agency coordinating the rescue said. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A woman carries an idol of Hindu god Ganesh to her home on the first day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Mumbai, India on August 22, 2020. (Photo by Hemanshi Kamani/Reuters)

A person dressed as a horned evil spirit known as “Krampus” parades with a torch through the small town of Goricane, Slovenia on November 18, 2023. (Photo by Borut Zivulovic/Reuters)

A colonly of honey bees swarms one of the traffic lights on 41st Street and Broadway on May 1st, 2024. Bees would frequest the area, even finding residence in the flowerbeds rooftop of WeWork offices at 1460 Broadway in prior seasons. (Photo by Derek French/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A person smokes marijuana as marijuana enthusiasts mark the informal annual cannabis holiday, 4/20 (four-twenty), corresponding to the numerical figure widely recognized within the cannabis subculture as a symbol for all things related to marijuana, in Hyde Park in London, Britain on April 20, 2023. (Photo by Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters)

A man falls from his motorcycle after hitting a water buffalo on his way to work outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, September 6, 2024. Cambodian animal owners have been warned to keep their animals, which often cause traffic accidents, leashed and could face prison time if relatives of those who die or are injured in such accidents initiate legal proceedings. (Photo by Heng Sinith/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.