AP Photo

Two years ago, I was the son of a broken nation. For almost 40 years, I fought to bring freedom and basic human rights to Libya, only to see the regime of Muammar Qaddafi gain acceptance into the international community as the oppression continued. I despaired of ever seeing my country free.

Fast-forward less than a year, and I found myself racing down a desert road to Tripoli with a coroner’s report on my lap. As deputy prime minister of the newly liberated Libya, I was returning to the capital with confirmation that Qaddafi was dead and Libya’s 42-year nightmare was over.

Our path from a brutal autocratic regime to a fledgling democracy has been swift, but we have a long road ahead of us and many people outside Libya do not acknowledge or appreciate just how...