Brandon Woodruff #53 of the Milwaukee Brewers is doused following a game against the Miami Marlins at American Family Field on September 11, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

American singer Tinashe arrives at the 2022 American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 20, 2022. (Photo by Aude Guerrucci/Reuters)

Tourists take photographs with a statue of Shakira at the Malecon in Barranquilla, Colombia, on December 26, 2023. Arms interlocked high, belly exposed, and torso folded to one side anticipate Shakira's iconic hip movement, immortalized on Tuesday in a 6.5-meter-high statue in the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, where she grew up. (Photo by Carlos Parra Rios/Reuters)

People splash each other in downtown Yerevan, Armenia during an annual Vardavar holiday on July 16, 2023. Vardavar is a traditional Armenian water festival, with people drenching each other, dating back to pagan times. The ancient festival is traditionally associated with the goddess Astghik, who was the goddess of water, beauty, love, and fertility. (Photo by Karen Minasyan/AFP Photo)

Scantily clad spectators run alongside riders in the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet during the 6th stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 145 km between Tarbes and Cauterets-Cambasque, in the Pyrenees mountains in southwestern France, on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/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.

U.S. Marines, left, and South Korean Marines, wearing blue headbands on their helmets, take positions after landing on the beach during the joint military combined amphibious exercise, called Ssangyong, part of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises, in Pohang, South Korea, Saturday, March 12, 2016. North Korea said Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and “liberate” the South in its latest outburst against the annual joint military drills by the United States and South Korea. (Photo by Kim Jun-bum/Yonhap via AP Photo)

Tourists take a panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur from a skybox during a media preview at Kuala Lumpur Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 05 May 2016. Skybox, 421 metres above ground level will be the latest tourists attraction at Kuala Lumpur Tower, the 7th tallest freestanding tower in the world. (Photo by Ahmad Yusni/EPA)