Bo, a 55-day-old baby Echidna known as a puggle, rests in the hands of vet nurse Annabelle Sehlmeier at Taronga Zoo in Sydney November 1, 2012. The puggle was brought to the zoo after it being found by itself on a walking track north of Sydney and will be fed by hand until it is weaned at about six months of age. (Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters)

People take cover as riot police use pepper spray projectile during a protest as a second reading of a controversial national anthem law takes place in Hong Kong, China on May 27, 2020. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/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.

A service member of the Ukrainian armed forces is seen at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk region, Ukraine on April 10, 2021. (Photo by Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters)

A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) pose for a picture at a camp in the Colombian mountains on February 2005. (Photo by Frank Piasecki Poulsen)

A Ukrainian serviceman of 80th Separate Galician Air Assault Brigade makes a snow angel in a bomb crater, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a position near Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Inna Varenytsia/Reuters)

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Hashed al- Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries hold a position near the village of Tal Abtah, south of Tal Afar, on November 30, 2016, during a broad offencive by Iraq forces to retake the city Mosul from Islamic State group jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al- Rubaye/AFP Photo)

A 10-year-old pet goldfish named George undergoes veterinarian Tristan Rich's scalpel to remove a life-threatening head tumor in this handout picture taken September 11, 2014 and provided to Reuters by the Lort Smith Animal Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. In a 45-minute long procedure described by Rich as “fiddly”, the fish was sedated by water laced with anaesthetic, the tumour removed and the wound sealed with tissue glue followed by antibiotics and painkillers. (Photo by Reuters/Lort Smith Animal Hospital)