Palestinian boy looks at a sheep at a livestock market, ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Canada's Melissa Humana-Paredes (L) and Brandie Wilkerson celebrate after defeating Argentina in the women's teams semifinals match 1 beach volleyball event during the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 at the Beach Volleyball Centre in Santiago on October 26, 2023. (Photo by Raul Arboleda/AFP Photo)

France's Simon Billy gets ready to practice speed skiing on the Chabriere ski slope in Vars, on March 29, 2017. (Photo by Jean-Pierre Clatot/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.

A damaged wooden garden house is seen amid a field of wheat following floods caused by heavy rainfalls, in Bad Bodendorf, Germany, July 18, 2021. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

This photograph taken on June 8, 2021 shows a street vendor walking past narrow residential houses, known as “nha ong” in Vietnamese or “tube houses”, in an urban area of Hanoi. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

An elephant enjoys its back being scrubbed by the keeper on March 1, 1950. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

A Chesterfield Borough Police telephone operator tests a gasmask with built in earpiece and microphone. The telephone service is considered one of the most important links in the coordination of ARP operations and must remain operational during air raids, 12th April 1939. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)