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.

The British rock and roll group the Beatles talk to Ed Sullivan at CBS Studio 50 before their live television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in New York, February 10, 1964. From left to right are, Sullivan, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, holding a cigarette, and Paul McCartney. (Photo by AP Photo)

A local resident of Red Hook, Betty Walsh, crosses a flooded street in Red Hook August 28, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. While Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm, it has knocked out power to more than 3 million people and is attributed to 15 deaths as it travels up the Eastern seaboard. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

Aldi SugandaRizal (2 years-old) smoking a cigarette while playing at the family home in Sekayu district, South Sumatera, Indonesia on May 23, 2010. (Photo by Ardiles Rante/Barcroft Media)

Skeletons are arranged in a bar scene as part of a competition to create Day of the Dead altars on pedestrian Regina Street in central Mexico City, Tuesday, November 1, 2016. The holiday honors the dead as friends and families gather in cemeteries to decorate their loved ones' graves and hold vigil through the night on Nov. 1 and 2. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

A dirty thunderstorm occurs over Mount Sakurajima as the volcano erupts violently at 12:03 am on July 26, 2016 in Tarumizu, Kagoshima, Japan. The eruption occurred at the mountain's Showa crater. This is the first time that the active volcano in southern Kyushu has spewed out a smokestack that high since an eruption on August 18, 2013, according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Newly-wed Syrian couple Nada Merhi, 18, and Hassan Youssef, 27, have their wedding pictures taken in front of a heavily damaged building in the war ravaged city of Homs on February 5, 2016. A Syrian photographer thought of using the destruction of Homs to take pictures of newly wed couples to show that life is stronger than death. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)

UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Miesha Tate face off during the UFC 196 weigh ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 4, 2016. (Photo by L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Sun via AP Photo)