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.

Irina, worker of a petrol station, now member of reconnaissance team of pro-Russian rebels' in the town of Makievka, eastern Ukraine, October 6, 2014. Like the men in the conflict, the women come from all walks of life. Some women come to serve with their husbands and boyfriends, others are single. Female fighters on both sides said the men in their units treat them as equals, though sometimes showing more leniency. They have little respect for men who have not taken up arms. On both sides the fighters expect a long conflict, despite the fragile ceasefire now in place. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

UConn students from Storrs, Conn., Gary Tu, Danny Wang and Victor Zheng, fish at Shenipsit Lake in Tolland, Conn. during sunset on Tuesday, August 19, 2014. (Photo by Jim Michaud/AP Photo/Journal Inquirer)

Participants lay down on a street covered by coloured powder during the annual Bangkok Color Run in Bangkok, Thailand April 1, 2017. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Children try to walk through a flooded street at Kampung Melayu residential area in Jakarta, December 23, 2014. Torrential rains that have continued in Indonesia in recent days have widened the number of flooded areas that include Jakarta and Bandung, a local newspaper said on Tuesday. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

A young woman wearing no trousers hits the ski slopes at a ski resort in Xuzhou, in east China's Jiangsu province on January 13, 2015 in a promotional effort to equal “No Pants Subway Ride”, which was marked on January 11 this year. The promotional “No Pants Subway Ride” stunt on January 11 was held as commuters in some 60 cities around the world braved public transportation in their undies, which has gone global since its first staging by US group Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002. (Photo by AFP Photo)

A visitor feeds a food pellet to a giraffe in the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya January 15, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

In this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015 photo, a Lebanese Shiite supporter of Hezbollah with a tattoo on his head that reads in Arabic, “Oh Ali”, beats his chest during the holy day of Ashoura, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. A growing number of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon are getting tattoos with religious and other Shiite symbols since the civil war in neighboring Syria broke out five years ago, fanning sectarian flames across the region. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)