Russia's Maria Stavitskaia performs during the ladies short program at the Rostelecom Cup ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow November 14, 2014. (Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

A girl performs martial arts during a function to mark International Women's Day at a school in Hyderabad, India, on March 7, 2014. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)

Daniel Ricciardo performs alongside Michael Kneightley in an RAAF F/A-18 Hornet at RAAF Base in East Sale, Victoria, Australia on March 12th, 2014. (Photo by Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool)

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 beluga whale sprays water towards visitors during a summer attraction at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on July 20, 2015. Tokyo's temperature climbed over 34 degree Celsius on July 20, one day after the end of the rainy season. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

Rapper Pitbull performs onstage during Nickelodeon's celebration of the new Burbank facility on January 11, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Nickelodeon)

U.S. Army soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment deployed to Combat Outpost Sabari, Afghanistan scan their area as they begin a multi-day air assault mission near the Pakistani border of eastern Afghanistan's Khost province May 2, 2012. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua L. DeMotts/U.S. Air Force)

A reveler, dressed as a Brazilian national army soldier holding a mock weapon with flowers jutting out of it, participates in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, June 18, 2017. (Photo by Nelson Antoine/AP Photo)