Peter Hain on why it could be a long war
And he warned that its targets would be much less precise than during the Gulf conflict a decade ago.
Speaking on BBC Television's HARDtalk, Mr Hain said it was "quite conceivable" that this latest campaign could continue for the rest of his lifetime.
He said: "Clearly, there's an immediate threat that has to be combated to stop copycat action from the groups that have been involved. That has to be our central target."
But in the longer term, he said, it would involve "everything from airline security to intelligence sharing, to extradition arrangements, to making financial systems more transparent and accountable".
Worldwide phenomenon
Mr Hain said: "This is not as precise an operation with as precise an objective as Colin Powell was able to identify in 1991.
"We are dealing with a worldwide phenomenon, of groups and individuals with tentacles that stretch right across the globe, using different techniques from weapons of mass destruction to the kind of techniques we saw in New York and Washington.
"We are talking about a global network which has to be combated by a global operation and that therefore, by its very nature, is not capable of the kind of narrow targeting that was the case ten years ago."
He added: "We are dealing now with a new and unique kind of fanaticism in which suicide operations are a principle feature. That is something pretty new on this scale and pretty hard to combat."
Achievable
"If you are willing to kill yourself to achieve your objectives, it is very difficult to create secure circumstances to defend countries and communities against that," he told the programme.
But Mr Hain said he believed the battle could be won, adding: "It's got to be achievable for the very future of the world.
"Otherwise, the whole of the world could be held to ransom by tiny groups of fanatics with suicide operations, armed with weapons of mass destruction who are able to turn civilian planes into guided missiles."