Wolf Blitzer: So, can the United States and its allies actually win the war in Afghanistan. Joining us now from Little Rock is the retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. A lot of the experts who know Afghanistan well, General Clark as you well know, say this is really not a winnable situation.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that's right, and I think- I do- I think they do say that. I think it's a very tough situation, but our objectives are we're principally there to go after Osama Bin Laden and the international terrorist movement that he has led and inspired. And the rest of it is what we can do, the most we can do to help the people of Afghanistan, and of course we want to help stabilize the situation on Pakistan, a nation 170 million armed with nuclear weapons. So, there's a three-part effort, but the winning part is breaking the back of the terrorist organization.

Wolf Blitzer: And when someone like the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, signs a law- signs into law this Sharia provision that, that if a husband doesn't have sex with his wife, he can rape her, and he allows that to go forward, what does that do to the overall combat mission, the military mission in a country like Afghanistan?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, it makes it a lot harder for the United States to convince other nations to join in and help promote the economic development in Afghanistan. And ultimately, Hamid Karzai's future depends on economic development, because if you don't give people hope and a belief in the future, they can't succeed. On the other hand, he's dealing with internal constituencies, and all of these things have to be balanced off one with the other. He's said he will review the law. I hope he will. I'll hope, I hope it won't go through.

Wolf Blitzer: Did Secretary Gates, the Defense Secretary, have the right priorities today when he's going to phase out the F-22, this new advanced fighter, and, and spend a lot more money on insurgencies as opposed to old Cold War-type contingencies?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I've loved the F-22. I testified for it in front of the Congress back in the 1990's. I'm a big proponent of American air power. As you know, Wolf, I used it in Kosova, but I think at this point given the budget realities, we can't go forward with the F-22. We've got to put our money in- we've got to have a balanced force. The F-22's a wonderful aircraft. Nobody's got anything like it in the world. We'd love to have more of them, but we've got to have balance across the force spectrum, and we need that money to go in some other directions now. We still want to keep abreast of the highest technology and the- we've got to have air and space superiority.

Wolf Blitzer: When North-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: But we can do it.

Wolf Blitzer: When North Korea launched that missile over the, the weekend, that long-range missile, the U.S. had the capability, potentially at least, to shoot it down. Did the U.S. make a mistake by not shooting it down?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I don't think so. I think the potential to shoot it down is there, but I think that our real leverage against North Korea is we've got to bring other nations to bear. We've got to use international diplomacy. I certainly agree with the aspect of taking it to the United Nations. I think Japan is outraged. I think China should be concerned. And I think putting international pressure is the next step forward. We still want to resolve this situation through diplomacy. We want them disarmed, and we want them to be a member of the international community. We've got to find a way to do it against a very tough, hard-edged North Korean regime.

Wolf Blitzer: Are you worried the Isrealis with the new government there, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are going to launch a pre-emptive strike trying to take out Iran's nuclear facilities?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think the Iranian situation is urgent, Wolf. I think we've got to really focus on it. I think President Obama and Secretary Clinton are attempting to do that by offering negotiations. Of course no one knows whether any diplomatic opening will work, and nothing's off the table. So, if I were the Iranians, I'd pay attention, and, and I'd be looking for some way out of this.

Wolf Blitzer: But based on what you know, do the israelis have the capability of doing that on their own without U.S. assistance?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, it depends on how broadly you define capabilities. They certainly have strike capabilities that are required. Their aircraft can certainly penetrate into the airspace. They can certainly hit the targets. Could they put ground troops in if necessary to follow up? Probably could. Do they know where everything is? Don't know, maybe not. Maybe they do, but if I were the Iranians, I wouldn't bet on the fact that the Israelis don't have the capacity to do it. And I can tell you that in the region there are a, there's a lot of concern and a lot of other nations in the region that would like to see the Iranian nuclear threat taken out.

Wolf Blitzer: Good to have you back in The Situation Room, General Clark.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.

Wolf Blitzer: Thanks very much.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you very much, Wolf. Good to be with you.

Wolf Blitzer: General Wesley Clark, the retired U.S. NATO Commander.