“Family disagreement”. (Photo by Vlado Pirsa/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019)

A house and garden is illuminated ahead of Christmas in Olching near Munich December 11, 2014. The house is decorated with more than 30,000 lights. Every year hundreds of houses across Germany are decorated by their owners with lights ahead of Christmas. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

Masked revellers pose during the Venice Carnival in Venice, Italy February 11, 2017. The Venice carnival in the historical lagoon city attracts people from around the world. (Photo by Tony Gentile/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.

An East German civilian (L) shows an East German customs officer the contents of his Trabant (auto) at checkpoint Potsdamer Platz in East Berlin in this November 24, 1989 file picture, as East Germany enforcing stringent customs controls to avoid smuggling. (Photo by Reuters)

Riot police use a water cannon to disperse LGBT rights activist before a Gay Pride Parade in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 28, 2015. Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered in central Istanbul for the city's annual gay pride parade, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The police appeared intent on stopping the crowd gathering near Taksim Square, the cameraman said. Taksim is a traditional rallying ground for demonstrators and saw weeks of unrest in 2013. (Photo by Kemal Aslan/Reuters)

Artist Kong Ning wears a wedding dress made from respirators to highlight concerns about air quality and pollution in Beijing, China on December 1, 2015. (Photo by Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua Press/Corbis)

Female North Korean traffic police officers gather in front of bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to pay their respects in Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday, February 16, 2013. North Koreans turned out to commemorate what would have been the 71th birthday of Kim Jong Il who died on December 17, 2011. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)