An art installation formed with milk churns, made by land art artist Gerard Benoit a la Guillaume, is seen at the Chenau de Mayen in the resort of Leysin, Switzerland August 7, 2015. More than 80 milk churns were placed between the Tour d'Ai and the Tour de Mayen summits at an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above sea level under the direction of the artist, to be photographed for his ongoing art project entitled “Milk churns without borders”. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/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.

A person makes faces as they march in the Societe de Sainte Anne parade during Mardi Gras on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in New Orleans. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

Iraqi army soldiers warm themselves next to a fire near the Qayara air base, south of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2016. The U.N. human rights office is lauding efforts by the U.S.-led coalition in the battle against the Islamic State group in Mosul. The office in Geneva says coalition flights over Iraq have largely succeeded in preventing IS from bringing in 25,000 more civilians to the city center, where the militant group has been using people as human shields as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

Female metro passengers hold flowers presented to them by metro workers, prior to International Women's Day in Kiev, Ukraine, 02 March 2016. The hustle and bustle of the morning commute is broken up by an unexpected surprise. The first passengers to step on the train receive – a warm welcome and a pot of flowers. One woman says, “It's very nice. All the running around and then you're given a flower, it's not often. It's very nice. I'm going to take care of this flower”. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century, in North America and across Europe, it is celebrated on March 08 in many countries around the world. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA)

Revellers attend the Victorian Picnic during the Wave and Goth festival in Leipzig, Germany, May 22, 2015. The annual festival, known in Germany as Wave-Gotik Treffen (WGT), features over 100 bands and artists in venues all over the city playing Gothic rock and other styles of the dark wave music subculture. One of the biggest of its kind, the event attracts a regular audience of up to 20,000, the organisers said. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Residents move the wreckage of cars that were swept away by flood in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, January 3, 2020. Severe flooding in greater Jakarta has killed scores of people and displaced tens of thousands others, the country's disaster management agency said. (Photo by Achmad Ibrahim/AP Photo)

An Indian Sikh devotee takes a dip in the holy sarover (water tank) at the Golden Temple on the eve of “Ghallughara Diwas”, the 29th Anniversary of Operation Bluestar, in Amritsar on June 5, 2013. The 1984 assault on the Golden Temple complex by the Indian army was conducted in an attempt to arrest separatists Sikh leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militant followers who had initiated a movement for a separate Sikh state. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)