as long as = while (?)

[GeneD]

As long as one group was preparing dinner, the others were collecting wood for the campfire.

Is this phrase used interchangeably with "while"? The sentence isn't about conditions, is it?

 

[emsr2d2]

I find the use of "As long as" there very strange. For me, it means "Provided/On condition that". It can be to do with time/duration but this is an odd context for that meaning.