As Canadian soldiers took to the streets in the Kabul, Afghanistan for the first time Wednesday, CTV's Matt McClure joined one of the patrols for a first-hand look at the job.

The troops are patrolling the mountains south of Kabul from where the Taliban launched their successful attack on the capital almost a decade ago. They're working with the German soldiers they'll soon replace, learning how to ensure such an uprising never happens again, and how to protect themselves while they're at it.

McClure talked to the soldiers about their mission with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Lt.-Col. Don Denne said he's worried about terrorist attacks from an abandoned Soviet-era hotel on the Canadian camp in the valley below. German commander Lt.-Col. Helmut Remus said the Canadians have good reason to worry.

"We've received a lot of threat warnings that the enemies would like to shoot rockets or mortars against the camp -- this area especially. This area is very important to overwatch," Remus said.

The solution is clear: the facility will soon become a key lookout for Canadian troops.

"It's like the old adage of dominating no man's land. If we put patrols out here, we will inevitably dominate that no man's land," Denne said.

"Force protection is a key issue for us. I brought my soldiers to Afghanistan. I want to bring everyone of them home alive."

Though the Canadians have been warned high-tech equipment offers little protection for peacekeepers out on the streets among the public, they say there's only one way to do the job.

"They should not show any fear. Which means -- some terrorists trying to attack ISAF -- their greatest success would be if we were afraid and not go out," Lieutenant Mark Becker said.

Defence Minister John McCallum says he's prepared for the fact as many as ten Canadian soldiers may die in Afghanistan over the next year.

There are 1,950 Canadian troops committed to the security force. With about 40 per cent of the total force, Canadians make up the largest single contingent.

The UN sanctioned the force before it entered Afghanistan in December 2001 to help protect the interim government of President Hamid Karzai after the ruling Taliban was toppled. Britain, Turkey and Germany-Netherlands have since led the force, formally known as the International Security Assistance Force, that is now confined to Kabul and its immediate environs.

NATO assumed command of the force at a ceremony Monday -- the organization's first operation outside Europe in its 54-year history.

As Afghanistan experienced its bloodiest day in more than a year, the country's top UN official renewed calls for the Security Council to expand peacekeeping forces beyond the capital of Kabul.

"Certainly the international community must realize that support given to Afghanistan is really a fraction what has been given to countries that were smaller, with much much less population," UN mission head Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters after a closed-door council briefing.

"We are not asking for the 40,000 troops that were in Kosovo. The population of Kosovo is less than half the population of refugees that came back to Afghanistan last year," Brahimi said, referring to the troubled Balkan province.

The 31-nation multinational force now ensuring security in Kabul has just 5,000 troops.

Tuesday, McCallum said Canada won't be expanding its contribution to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

"We don't have the capacity to do more than that," McCallum said following a cabinet meeting.

In recent weeks, the number of attacks on aid workers and others has risen. On Wednesday, at least 61 people were killed -- including six children -- and dozens wounded in outbreaks of violence across the country.

The United Nations suspended its mission in parts of southern Afghanistan over the weekend after a series of attacks on relief workers, including one in which six Afghan soldiers and a driver for a U.S. aid agency were killed.

With reports from CTV News and The Associated Press