A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) pose for a picture at a camp in the Colombian mountains on February 2005. (Photo by Frank Piasecki Poulsen)

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Hashed al- Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries hold a position near the village of Tal Abtah, south of Tal Afar, on November 30, 2016, during a broad offencive by Iraq forces to retake the city Mosul from Islamic State group jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al- Rubaye/AFP 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.

A service member of the Ukrainian armed forces is seen at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk region, Ukraine on April 10, 2021. (Photo by Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters)

Exhibition's guides pose on a tank during the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum at the Russian Armed Forces' Patriot Park in Kubinka, outside Moscow, on August 16, 2022. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

A Ukrainian serviceman of 80th Separate Galician Air Assault Brigade makes a snow angel in a bomb crater, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a position near Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Inna Varenytsia/Reuters)

Daring Captain Kevin Oprey is seen standing beneath the soaring hull of Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2.

Rotterdam based SMIT and Livorno based NERI salvage workers start their work of diesel recovery on a pontoon from the the cruise ship Costa Concordia that lies stricken off the shore of the island of Giglio on January 24, 2012 in Giglio Porto, Italy. (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)