A tourist has her photo taken wearing a Santa hat on Christmas Day on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on December 25, 2018. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Actors recreate scenes on the streets of Digbeth during The Legitimate Peaky Blinders Festival 2019 at the Custard Factory on September 14, 2019 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Wire Press Association)

Supporters react as U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to the White House in Washington, U.S., October 3, 2019. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Reuters)

A giraffe appears almost to be doing the splits as it bends to drink at a watering hole on a reserve in Mkuze, South Africa in September 2023. (Photo by Peter Batty/Solent News)

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.

Netherlands Antilles Sint Maarten – Boeing 747-400 of KLM in approach for the “Princess Juliana” airport on July 2, 2002. (Photo by LUPOO/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

Children, wearing traditional Bavarian folk costumes specific to their region, prepare for the competition in the “Schuhplattler” style of Bavarian folk dancing for the Bavarian Lion Award at the Huosigau Heimat and Folklore Society on May 28, 2011 in Weilheim, Germany. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

The last American military convoy to depart Iraq from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division crosses over the border into Kuwait on December 18, 2011 in Khabari Al Awazeem, Kuwait. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)