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 boy rides on a snow wagon towed by a robot dressed as a Teddy bear, which only moves forward by moving its legs, during the Ice and snow carnival at Taoranting park in Beijing February 9, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A Bedouin rifleman hides behind his camel while he carefully takes aim in the Sahara desert. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Syrian civil defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, rescue a boy from the rubble following a reported barrel bomb attack on the Bab al- Nairab neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 24, 2016. (Photo by Ameer Alhalbi/AFP Photo)

Color dyed rabbits are seen in the markets of the Souq Waqif on January 12, 2011 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Emma Watson poses at the winners boards at the Sony Ericsson Empire Film Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel on March 9, 2008 in London England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

These “snapcats” have found their bunny doppelgängers in a series of sweet photo shoots. Animal photographer Mark Taylor, from Surrey, England, and his assistants have scoured the U.K. to bring together carbon-copy rabbits and cats. Here: Chocolate Birman-cross kitten with chocolate Lop rabbit. (Photo by Mark Taylor/Warren Photographic/Caters News Agency)

The aurora borealis, or the northern lights occur over Derwentwater, near Keswick, England, Thursday October 8, 2015. The northern lights are the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire via AP Photo)