WE have been there before but this time Britain has sent its soldiers in a peacekeeping role to Afghanistan.

Soldiers from the Wiltshire bases are in the country's capital, Kabul, maintaining a general calm in the city that was once ruled by the Taliban militia which imposed strict Islamic rule.

And along with the occupation of the Taliban forces came the violence and horror as they destroyed everything modern, taking the city back to medieval times.

Now there is room to breathe. A freer press, a civilian head of state and a space for democrats, human rights workers and a programme to rebuild its infrastructure.

Girls now go freely to school and increasing numbers of women walk around Kabul bare faced without the restriction of the veil.

And despite the population losing everything over the last few years they are jubilant in welcoming the British to their 3,000 year old city. During my visit to Kabul, to see first-hand the role of the Wiltshire soldiers, I was taken with the friendliness of the Afghan people.

Accompanied by an armed guard and kitted out with a bullet proof vest for safety, I was taken to the centre of the city and able to walk through the markets buzzing with activity as the people of Kabul revelled in their new-found freedom from Taliban rule.

Most were only too pleased to have their photograph taken and I was at times besieged with people keen to see their image.

Radios and televisions, as well as videos and cameras, were banned by the Taliban, but now the people of Kabul could attempt to catch up with modern technology.

Commander of the British forces, Simon Levey, who lives in West Lavington, described that visiting the city was like going back in time and how true this was.

Families were washing their clothes in the low-lying Kabul river and much of the transport in the city was vastly overcrowded buses, horses and carts and a sea of old bicycles.

The whole centre of the city took on the appearance of a biblical-style market with thousands of makeshift stalls selling a surprising array of goods.

One building we were quickly whisked by is the former sports stadium, called the Stadium of Doom, where the Taliban carried out the horrendous chopping of off hands, arms and legs during their rule.

But just as horrendous were the statistics of the number of people killed or maimed by the residue of war the minefields.

Sergeant Robert Bradley explained that Afghanistan was the fourth most heavily mined country in the world, with 11 millions mines still on the ground and in the last 15 weeks there had been 14 fatalities.

He warned me not to venture off the roadway as much of the area around Kabul was still riddled with mines. Commander Levey explained that Kabul had stability for the first time in 25 years and the role of the 400 British troops was as a peacekeeping force.

He said: "Kabul was once a beautiful city, but you will see that the Taliban has dragged it back through time. Our aim now is to aid its initial recovery and to work alongside the Afghans in rebuilding its infrastructure."

But with most of the British troops still under canvas the race was on to build accommodation before the hard winter sets in. Commander Levey said: "We are employing many Afghan builders to use their traditional skills in building accommodation blocks for the soldiers here on a former fertiliser factory site.

"We have a huge number of challenges here in Kabul, as not only has a third of the city has been destroyed, but also this area of Afghanistan has little water and has suffered a drought for the last four years."

"The shortage of food doesn't seem to be a problem, the problems are with the distribution of it,and one of our main priorities is to help rebuild the roads. But with one soldier for every 10,000 people here it's a drop in the ocean what we can do."

Soldiers are already committed into various community projects raising money to help rebuild schools and orphanages.

The day before I arrived, Commander Levey had the privilege of reopening a girls' school that was rebuilt partly thanks to the fundraising by the British soldiers.

Commander Levey said: "It was a touching occasion, I had a lump in my throat to see the joy in the faces of those children as they were given back their school".

l Next week we meet a young Wiltshire soldier who has left his wife behind in the UK to undertake a tour in Kabul and the Warminster-based army medic who is a specialist in psychology.