In this image made from video, woman protesters march with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, January 10, 2019. Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee. (Photo by Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP Photo)

Angele Blank, right, and Virginia Promeyrat wait for the start of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, Saturday October 31, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Tina Fineberg/AP Photo)

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.

Following a large air raid by German bombers, local people, coming out of their air raid shelters found a bus standing on end in a large crater, in Balham, London, October 15, 1940. (Photo by AP Photo)

Rays of the misty sunrise swathe Christ Church in the village of Brockham in Surrey, UK on September 29, 2025. Colder temperatures are expected in the early part of the day with mist and fog clearing later in the south. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/The Times)

A girl reacts while getting a nasal swab sample at a testing and screening facility for the new coronavirus in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, July 17, 2020. (Photo by Fareed Khan/AP Photo)

The two Pulis Quastie and Gin-Gin run in the snow in their garden in Lautertal, southern Germany, Thursday, January 5, 2017. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Military officers look at an AR-10 sniper rifle at LAAD, the biggest military industry expo in Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil April 10, 2018. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)