Belgian singer Angèle performs onstage at the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 14, 2023 in Indio, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)

Israeli soldiers play the parts of wounded civilians during a drill simulating a toxic spill from an attack on a train in Beersheba, southern Israel, 13 January 2016, as Home Front medical teams, fire fighters and police carry out rescue operations. The large scale drill is the concluding exercise of the Fourth International Conference on Healthcare System Preparedness and Response to Emergencies and Disasters and includes some 200 of the world's experts on health system readiness from around the world. The conference is dealing with all types of medical emergencies from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. (Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)

A prisoner from the Pedrinhas prison is carried to receive medical help after he was injured during a fight between rival gangs inside the jail, in Sao Luiz, capital of Maranhao state, January 8, 2014. The recent posting on a major Brazilian news website of a video filmed last December 17 by Pedrinhas prisoners of the decapitated and tortured bodies of rival inmates inside the jail has highlighted some of the problems present in the country's prison system which houses nearly twice as many prisoners as its capacity, according to official statistics. (Photo by Douglas Cunha/Reuters/O Estado do Maranhão)

Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka in action with AFC Bournemouth’s Bafode Diakite in Sunderland, UK on November 29, 2025. (Photo by Scott Heppell/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 biker passes by a pair of mailboxes in the Capitol Hill neighborhood November 6, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Colorado is considered by most experts to be one of the key battleground state in this year's presidential election. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/AFP Photo)

A police officer fires tear gas at protesters after the presidential election results were announced in Kisumu, Kenya on August 15, 2022. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)