A Somali family wades through flood waters, as they flee after overnight rains destroyed their home, in Wadajir district of Mogadishu, Somalia on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Feisal Omar/Reuters)

A street artist, calling on people to visit an amusement park, walks past the military-themed street exhibition “Together to Victory” in Saint Petersburg on February 3, 2025. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

Photo taken at the top of the Canton Tower, a landmark in Guangzhou, on August 7, 2022 shows the Pearl River running through downtown of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo by Liu Dawei/Xinhua News Agency)

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has appeared in the world top ten for performing arts education in the QS World University Rankings 2024 published today, April 10, 2024. (Photo by The Times)

Lali carries balloons to sell on a beach in Mumbai, India, Sunday, October 11, 2015. The United Nations General Assembly marks October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/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.

A bystander walks past a fresco by street artist Seth depicting a girl with a Ukrainian flag walking on tanks in Paris on March 01, 2022. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

A man looks at a car hit by a post after a tornado ripped through a neighbourhood in Havana, Cuba on January 28, 2019. (Photo by Fernando Medina/Reuters)