We have all been stunned witnessing the courage of the Libyan people triumph over the cruelty of Gaddafi and his regime. The National Transitional Council (NTC) may not hold all territory but they hold the right to govern in a country too long denied the freedom its people deserve.

As the Opposition we are proud to have stood with the international community as action was taken to avoid tragedy. Thousands are today alive thanks to NATO. A new Libya is on the horizon. Labour continues to support the mission and our exceptional armed forces who deserve all our thanks and admiration.

But David Cameron is right to be cautious. As long as there is a threat to civilians the NATO alliance has a role under the UN mandate and as long as Gaddafi and his clan are at large the new era cannot be said to have begun. His access to weapons and his intent to slaughter instilled a psychology of fear in the population that has now been broken but must be brought to a demonstrable end.

The end to the fighting however will mark just the start of a Libyan future characterised by self determination. The success of any military intervention is not just the military outcome but the lasting settlement it gives rise to. In the same way NATO action precipitated the overthrow of the regime the task now is to facilitate a representative political settlement, economic growth, rule of law and a workable justice system. In doing so the immediate priorities are sustainable security and providing the new government with access to funding, but there are important longer-term lessons we can draw from experiences of recent conflicts.

The lessons learnt from Iraq have been much commented on – the person who keeps the lights on in Tripoli should keep their job, as should others not linked to totalitarian repression and state murder. Less commented on are the lessons we continue to learn from Afghanistan.

A priority, and one where NATO can play an important role, is training the Libyan army. A key lesson from Afghanistan, however, is that security must be locally-led. Establishing a local, representative police force is vital.

As in Afghanistan, Libya’s future success will depend on those involved in a decades-long power struggle having the opportunity to exercise democratic power. The best way to establish representative authority where it is unfamiliar is through engagement, not enforcement. The emergent political system must include all facets of Libyan society and represent tribal affiliations from Sirte to Misrata to Tripoli. We can learn from the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan to build a model which gives cities and regions strong representation able to spend resources and engage meaningfully with tribal leaders.

In Afghanistan the indispensible political settlement inside the country is dependent on the political settlement outside. For Libya, just as it was vital that we had the support of the Arab League and African Union for the no-fly zone, so too must they play an important role in diplomatic efforts to determine Libya’s future, encouraging regional aid and providing if necessary any ground support. Any wider peace-keeping force must, we are clear, be UN-led.

The post-conflict settlement must also be boosted by finance and support for aid agencies, acting as a catalyst for the goals of the NTC’s draft constitution. The socioeconomic conditions which give rise to extremism and grievance cannot be allowed to foster. This is not nation building but creating the conditions that allow populations to build their own futures. Winston Churchill said, “Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war”: it is up to us to prove him wrong.

Going forward, it is right we challenge ourselves to learn the specific lessons from the Libyan conflict for defence policy. Libya has demonstrated what David Owen has called a ‘prototype for a new kind of intervention’, where Special Forces are embedded on the ground supporting local forces, backed by air power and naval supremacy to shape the balance of power on the ground and facilitate conditions in which the will of the people and well-trained indigenous forces can prevail. Action was coalition-driven, led by NATO, endorsed by the UN, supported in word and deed by regional partners. It has been devoid of the misconception of the possible.

This does not signal the end of large scale interventions with ground troops – and it is right we retain the capability to conduct such operations – but it does signal a model which, in light of the Arab Spring, lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, shrinking domestic budgets and domestic populations reticent about interventionism, could be the framework for future action.

Britain must be prepared, and I believe there are three challenges which demand attention.

First, as conflicts move away from battlefields to urban settings, amongst the people and guerrilla by nature, our SAS must have a greater role to play. In future interventions they will be vital to success and deserve all the support and development required. Alongside intelligence and reconnaissance assets that means the best possible training and equipment but also specialist understanding of the cultures of the nations on our security radar so we are able to support local populations and apply tailor-made solutions to the issues they face pre and post conflict.

Second, defence must be viewed as more than reactive military conflict management but also pre-emptive deterrence of aggression and the circumstances in which it thrives, sitting as part of our wider foreign and development policy. Oppression of freedom has again proved itself unsustainable and a major threat to global security and so we must tackle all its drivers, in particular exploring making development contingent on political reform.

Finally, events have underlined at once the importance of NATO and the need for its reform. That eight of 28 members contributed is not good enough. It is essential that the reconstruction is a cross-alliance effort in a way the conflict wasn’t, moving to greater burden sharing, more equal monetary contributions and greater interoperability over the longer-term.

The battle for a new Libya after 42 years of despotic misrule will be greater than that of the last six months. We have a duty to play our part, just as we have a duty to ensure future such humanitarian missions draw on all lessons of recent experience.

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Jim Murphy MP is shadow secretary of state for defence

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Photo: Mohammed Shamma