A proposed British military intervention in Libya risks the same pitfalls that blighted the bloody Afghanistan campaign, a former UK commander in the north African country has warned.

Plans to join an Italian-led training force to bolster Libyan forces to against Islamic State militants could be prone to similar mission creep that saw international troops become bogged down after the fall of the Taliban.

Without a carefully thought through plan, soldiers could again find themselves unwittingly drawn into local power struggles and even find feuding militias uniting against them.