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.

Visitors look at a plastinated human body during the “Body Worlds” exhibition by German anatomist Gunther von Hagens at a pavilion of the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow, Russia on March 24, 2021. Head of Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin ordered a probe of the exhibition after it sparked outrage among conservative religious groups and public figure. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)

A man rides his motorcycle along an empty street in Cali on April 17, 2021, during a curfew imposed by the government to help curb infections of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, as weekend partial lockdown takes effect in four Colombian cities. In recent weeks, the Colombian government has imposed, and then tightened, a series of restrictions to stem a third wave of infections that is bringing its health system to the brink of collapse. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh practicing his bicycle polo technique, Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, 1964. (Photo by Norman Potter/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A woman pulls a wooden craft carrying her family in flood water after attending a wedding ceremony in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia, March 16, 2022. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman from the Pataxo tribe poses for a photo at an indigenous protest camp on the fourth day of the Terra Livre Indigenous Camp in Brasilia on April 7, 2022. The 10-day annual protest is held by indigenous people from tribes that arrive from all over Brazil, and calls for greater protection of their land and rights. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

Children play football in Bujumbura, Burundi on March 19, 2015. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

An alpaca chewing a leaf is pictured on November 18, 2014 in the zoo of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP Photo/DPA)