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.

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

This photo taken on April 7, 2018 shows Rohingya refugee attending a demonstration of elephant resistance arranged by the UNHCR and IUCN at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh. The purpose of the training day is sobering – a dozen Rohingya have been killed by wild elephants whose habitat has been consumed by Kutupalong refugee camp. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)

People pause at a memorial set up for victims of a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., on Tuesday, October 3, 2017. A gunman opened fire on an outdoor music concert on Sunday. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, with dozens of people killed and hundreds injured, some by gunfire, some during the chaotic escape. (Photo by John Locher/AP Photo)

In this image released on September 23, Puerto Rican model Joan Smalls is seen during Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 presented by Amazon Prime Video at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles, California; and broadcast on September 24, 2021. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 Presented by Amazon Prime Video)

A performer from the Imperatriz samba school takes part in the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on March 4, 2019. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

Kite-surfers practice in a water reservoir at the shores of the Mediterranean sea close to the southern Israeli kibbutz of Ziqim during stormy weather, on December 20, 2021. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)

A tourist pets a cat before the “Horus protects Ramses II as a child”, dating to the reign of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom pharaoh (1303-1213 BC), at the Egyptian Museum in the centre of Egypt's capital Cairo on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)