Dog walkers enjoy the early morning sunrise at Tynemouth Beach in North Tyneside, on the north east coast of England on Monday, February 7, 2022. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

Women wait for customers at the fish harbour in Kasimedu Fish market, Chennai, India, on June 26, 2024. (Photo by Riya Mariyam R./Reuters)

Security personnel patrol around West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, August 31, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Children react after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad near the Syrian Arab Red Crescent center in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus May 6, 2015. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A woman spits red paint as if it is blood protesting against bullfights in Madrid, Spain on March 27, 2016. Anti-bullfighting protesters have turn the iconic square of “Puerta del Sol” into a bullring. Protesters, almost naked covered with red paint as if it was blood, have demanded the abolition of bullfights under the slogan “The bull suffers!”. (Photo by Marcos del Mazo/Pacific Press)

Shura Kitata of Ethiopia runs past cardboard cut-outs of the Duke of Cambridge and the Queen at the London Marathon in London, Britain, 04 October 2020. (Photo by Tom Jenkins/The Guardian)

A boy rides on a snow wagon towed by a robot dressed as a Teddy bear, which only moves forward by moving its legs, during the Ice and snow carnival at Taoranting park in Beijing February 9, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/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.