A local boy plays football on Iracema Beach on June 11, 2014 in Fortaleza, Brazil. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Models showcase collection by designer Zhang Kejia during the 2021 Kunming Fashion Week on December 15, 2021 in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. (Photo by Li Jiaxian/China News Service via Getty Images)

A dog at the Zoozashchita-NN veterinary clinic in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia on February 19, 2021. On February 13, 13 stray dogs with bright blue fur were found and caught at the Dzerzhinskoye Steklo (Dzerzhinsk Glass) factory producing acrylic glass and prussic acid in the city of Dzerzhinsk. The dogs' fur tested positive for the Prussian blue pigment; now the dogs are under supervision at the Zoozashchita-NN vet clinic in Nizhny Novgorod. (Photo by Mikhail Solunin/TASS)

A dog wearing a hat, a pair of sunglass and a lei standing in a fountain of water on August 5, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. The Hong Kong SongKran Festival will be held in a shopping centre from August 5 to 9. (Photo by Vernon Yuen/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Participants approach a law enforcement officer with open arms during an opposition demonstration to protest against police violence and to reject the presidential election results near the Government House in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus on August 14, 2020. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A woman wearing a sweet girl cosplay mask strikes a pose during a flower watching or Hanami event, in the Japanese Garden of Bucharest, Romania, April 13, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/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.

People carrying torches march during the traditional Bonfire Celebrations in Lewes, Britain on November 4, 2017. Lewes holds Britain's largest Bonfire night celebrations. The event marks Guy Fawkes Night and the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and commemorates the memory seventeen Protestant martyrs from the town who were burned at the stake. Thousands gather with flaming torches to march through the street and burn effigies. (Photo by Neil Hall/EPA/EFE)