Police officers check documents of a man in central Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 25, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A man shows golf ball-size hail outside Parliament House after a severe hail storm hit Canberra, Australia, 20 January 2020. (Photo by Mick Tsikas/EPA/EFE)

A man who was set on fire by people accusing him of stealing during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro runs amidst opposition supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, May 20, 2017. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

Sally Rand dances on a beach in St. Petersburg, Florida, February 17, 1936. (Photo by AP Photo)

Belarusian schoolchildren, who are members of a pro-government Young Pioneer movement, perform with drums as they take part in a meeting to mark the 95th anniversary of their organisation in Minsk, Belarus May 19, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Models take part in the promotion of the Miss Bumbum (buttocks) beauty pageant, along Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 7, 2017. The annual Bumbum pageant to select the nation' s sexiest female buttocks will be held on November, 6 in Sao Paulo. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)

Women dressed in folk costumes take part in a traditional wedding ceremony in the village of Galicnik, west of Macedonia's capital Skopje, July 12, 2014. The Galicnik Wedding, a three-day traditional Macedonian wedding celebration held each “Petrovden” or St. Peter's Day, involves traditional customs, costumes, and rituals and dances that have been passed down over the centuries. (Photo by Ognen Teofilovski/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.