Actors Timothee Chalamet, Monica Barbaro and Elle Fanning attend a premiere of the film “A Complete Unknown” at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 2024. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/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.

Tourists pose for a selfie in an old American car in front of a wall bearing a graffiti of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) in Havana, on September 27, 2023. September 28 marks the 63th anniversary of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the so-called “eyes and ears of the Revolution” created by the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

A man helps a child to dress as Jawa, a character from the Star Wars movie series, during an event organised by Star Wars fan club Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, December 13, 2015. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Festival goers kiss in the “Silent Disco” at the “Music in the Park” stage during the 50th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, July 9, 2016. (Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA)

An Indian artist performs with fire during a procession as part of “Bonalu” festival in Hyderabad, India, Monday, Aug.10, 2015. Bonalu is a month long Hindu folk festival of India's Telangana region dedicated to Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Wayne Painter, 70, saw the sun set beneath lenticular clouds 20km wide in Tasmania, Australia in November 2021. Some likened the image to a near-miss with Mars. (Photo by Wayne Painter/Kennedy News)

The annual calendar features stunning shots of lighting, cloud formations and the aurora australis. Hundreds of photographers from every Australian state and territory submitted images to the Bureau of Meteorology for selection in the year’s calendar, with only the best chosen to represent the full spectrum of Australian weather. Here: April. A path through the clouds between Townsville and Richmond, Queensland. (Photo by Captain Victoria Harrison/Australian Bureau of Meteorology)