Belgian-British teenager Zara Rutherford closes the canopy of her Shark Ultralight airplane as she prepares to take off at the Kortrijk-Wevelgem airfield in Wevelgem, Belgium, Wednesday, August 18, 2021. A Belgian-British teenager took to the skies Wednesday in her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. Nineteen-year-old Zara Rutherford took off from an airstrip in Wevelgem, Belgium, in an ultralight plane looking to break the record set by American aviator Shaesta Waiz, who set the world benchmark at age 30 in 2017. (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

In this January 11, 2018 photo, a skater jumps a ramp during the inauguration of a new recreational space for skateboarders, created in an abandoned gym at the Educational complex Ciudad Libertad, a former military barracks that the late Fidel Castro turned into a school complex after the revolution in Havana, Cuba. Foreign skateboard enthusiasts supply their Cuban counterparts with boards and other equipment. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/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.

Sculpture by Danger Dave titled “Damien Hirst Looking for Sharks” is seen on September 13, 2021 in Currumbin, Australia. SWELL Sculpture Festival is an annual exhibition that features 65 large-scale sculptures installed along Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast in Queensland. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

An Abyssinian cat befriends a judge during a two-day international cat exhibition organized by the World Cat Federation (WCF) in Budapest, Hungary, 18 January 2025. (Photo by Zoltán Balogh/EPA/EFE)

A couple of monkeys look from inside their cage at a rescue and rehabilitation center in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, November 22, 2014. Elba Munoz who runs the center, says that one of the goals of the Center for the Rescue and Rehabilitation of Primates is to stop the trafficking of the animals. (Photo by Luis Hidalgo/AP Photo)

A jockey falls from his buffalos during Barapan Kebo or buffalo races as part of the Moyo festival on September 30, 2014 in Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The traditional Buffalo races, known as Barapan Kebo, are held by Samawa tribes in muddy rice fields to celebrate and provide entertainment ahead of the annual planting season. Jockeys secure themselves on a wooden structure attached to the buffalo, and maneuver across the mud in a race to the finish line. The jockeys weild long sticks, in a similar style to jousting, and direct them towards targets called “Saka”. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Young gymnasts practice pull-up on a bar at a gymnasium of a sports school in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province April 11, 2015. (Photo by William Hong/Reuters)