An Israeli protester lifts her T-shirt next to Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men outside an army recruiting office in the town of Kiryat Ono near Tel Aviv on March 5, 2024, during a demonstration against their exemption from serving in the army. Since the October 7 attack by Palestinian militants, the question surrounding whether the insular community, whose members see army service as conflicting with their religious duties, should be obligated to serve has sparked debate and led to protests against their decades-long exemptions. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

Humanoid robots fight during a kickboxing match on day two of the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games at National Speed Skating Oval on August 16, 2025 in Beijing, China. The 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games (WHRG) will be held from August 14 to 17 in Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, bringing together 280 teams from 16 countries across five continents. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

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 woman walks in central Rason city, northeast of Pyongyang, August 29, 2011. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

A Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader during the second quarter of an NFL preseason football game against the Cleveland Browns Friday, August 26, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Jason Behnken/AP Photo)

Boys pan for gold on a riverside at Iga Barriere, 25 km (15 miles) from Bunia, in the resource-rich Ituri region of eastern Congo February 16, 2009. Ituri is one of many areas of the country to have experienced bitter ethnic conflict between rival tribes in recent years. Massacres have left tens of thousands dead. It is this fighting that led U.S. authorities to take the unprecedented step of naming Congo in section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act, which says U.S.-listed companies that source gold, tungsten, tantalum and tin from Congo or its neighbours must assure the U.S. stock exchange regulator that their business is not helping fund conflict. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

Daughter being told off by her mother. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)