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 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

Bride Duangreuthai Amnuayweroj and groom Kasemsak Jiranantiporn fly while attached to cables during a wedding ceremony ahead of Valentine's Day at a resort in Ratchaburi province, Thailand, February 13, 2016. Four Thai couples took part in the wedding ceremony arranged by the resort. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A sharia executor, know as algojo, during a public caning punishment in Jantho, Aceh Besar Regency, Indonesia, 17 November 2017. Ten people were sentenced to public caning for adultery in Aceh, the only province in Indonesia which implements sharia law. (Photo by Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA/EFE)

NASA's new moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Wednesday morning, November 16, 2022, as seen from Harbor town Marina on Merritt Island, Fla. The moon is visible in the sky. (Photo by Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP Photo)

A student from the General Yermolov Cadet School performs with models of swords during celebrations of Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week, a pagan holiday marking the end of winter, in southern city of Stavropol, Russia, March 6, 2019. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

Jo Swinson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats takes part in some boxing practice as she campaigns at a boxing gym for young people on November 13, 2019 in London, England. The United Kingdom will hold a general election on December 12. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Migrants, part of a caravan traveling en route to the United States, carry an anteater that was hit by a car, according to them, as they walk on the road that links Arriaga and Tapanatepec, near Arriaga, Mexico, November 5, 2018. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)