As Afghanistan prepares for elections, Conor Lally reports on the Irish soldiers helping to rebuild after the Taliban

Lieut Col Colm Campbell likes to make light of the dangers he encountered in the Afghan capital of Kabul. But he insists his lack of fear is not bravado. Instead, he views such tours of duty as opportunities to practise his profession - ones without which his job would not hold the same attraction.

"The security precautions are quite high when you're there," he says. "You avoid routine. You don't travel by yourself in vehicles - you travel in multiple-vehicle convoys - and, depending on the security situation, you travel in armoured vehicles. Every time you leave camp you have body armour and helmets on, and you carry weapons at all times.

"There were shellings on our camp when we were over there, and one Norwegian soldier was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at his car while on a routine patrol. It's absolutely random, in the sense that the rockets fired can land anywhere, and an urban environment is a target-rich one. Our experience in Lebanon prepared us for all this. There were incidents in Lebanon on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis, with shellings and shootings."

Campbell, a married father of two based in the Curragh, spent five months in Kabul, from March to July, working for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The force is in the country at the request of the Afghan transitional authority, to help in "building and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate the rebuilding of Afghanistan". Rotations of seven Irish defence-force members have been in Afghanistan since late 2001. They are among an international deployment of 6,500 troops, of 35 nationalities.

Although ISAF is active only in some parts of the country, helping rebuild with the troops, engineers, doctors and other professionals working for it, it is hoped the force will be able to operate throughout the land when the security situation is right.

Campbell was responsible for helping to co-ordinate the security arrangements for visiting heads of state, chiefs of staff and ambassadors from the 35 nations making up the force.

He also helped draft briefing papers for the visiting dignitaries - vital for securing the continued support of the nations that have committed troops to the former Taliban-controlled country.

The scene that greeted him and his colleagues in March was one of devastation, he says. "In some places there has been total devastation: houses destroyed, vast tracts where buildings are completely damaged. But there is a lot of activity nonetheless, mostly at a micro level, with people out trading, trying to make some money for themselves and their families. The kids are going off in the morning for school, dressed immaculately in white shirts and white socks, coming out of mud hovels. It's wonderful to see what they can do with so little, a real eye-opener. Begging is not in their culture, but if they wanted anything from you it would be pencils and paper to allow them to go to a school in the middle of a field. All they are striving for is education."

Campbell says the Irish defence forces have never been so well financed - and are regarded as among the world's best peacekeepers. "The real heroes of Irish peacekeeping, for me, are the guys who went to Lebanon in 1958 and went to Congo in 1960. They weren't as well equipped as we are and didn't have the resources we have. But everything we do today has been built on their backs. You don't build up your experience overnight or on an individual basis; it's a collective effort, an experience of the whole organisation."

Campbell accepts that Ireland's involvement in overseas missions is not without risk. But he is quick to point out that ISAF does not conduct operations with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. Coalition troops still have daily gun battles with militia forces in southern Afghanistan and on the Pakistani border. He says: "As long as we continue to act under UN authority we will be OK."

He says that Saturday's presidential election, for which ISAF will provide security, is vital for the future of Afghanistan. But he is realistic about the small role he and other Irish soldiers have played in helping secure a safe and democratic future for Afghans.

"The international community, from both a security and donor point of view, has to be prepared to be in there for the long haul. There is little point in going into a country such as Afghanistan and trying to create the conditions for democracy and thinking it will take place in one or two years. It's not regime change you are talking about: it's more starting everything from scratch, from the police force to the army, courts, industry - everything.

"That cannot be done overnight. But it's worth it. The people are worth it. They deserve a chance. The Marshall Plan, after the second World War, is an example of how it can be successful. You're looking at something akin to that with Afghanistan."