Potters colour earthen lamps at a workshop ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali in Amritsar October 15, 2014. Earthen lamps are sold in large numbers during Diwali, the annual Hindu festival of lights, as people use them to decorate their homes. (Photo by Munish Sharma/Reuters)

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 woman poses on the flooded St. Mark's square during an acqua-alta (high-water) alert in Venice, on November 19, 2013. (Photo by Andrea Pattaro/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Metallica and Lang Lang rehearse for THE 56TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS music industry's premier event takes place Sunday, Jan. 26 (8:00-11:30 PM, live ET/delayed PT) at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Heather Wines/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A police officer escorts a civilian away from the scene of a shooting, Sunday, July 22, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. A gunman opened fire in central Toronto on Sunday night, injuring 13 people including a child. Two dead including gunman, police reported. (Photo by Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

Players of the USA celebrate in the dressing room following their team's victory in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United States of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 07, 2019 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Rene Penia drives his VW Beetle 1995, locally called “Vocho”, through the streets of Monterrey April 22, 2015. The car was painted by a local artist to be part of an exhibition on the 1960s at the National History Museum in Monterrey where it was on display for five years. Pena bought the car for 25.000 Mexican Pesos (some USD 2,000 at that time) in 2013 during an auction and he then converted the car into an electrical vehicle. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Students exercise in body training at Bishan Vocational Education Center in Chongqing, southwest China, January 13, 2016. These students were trained to be stewardesses of the high-speed train. (Photo by Xie Jie/Xinhua)