General Wesley Clark on "Fox News Weekend"
June 11, 2006
Transcript by Reg NYC
Page Hopkins: The Taliban booted from power in Afghanistan, but staging a comeback in the South. Guerrilla attacks over the past month have taken hundreds of lives. NATO takes over security in Afghanistan next month. How hard will it be to keep the resurgent Taliban in check?
We're taking to the former Supreme Commander of NATO and Fox News contributor, General Wesley Clark. Thanks for joining us today, General Clark.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you, Page.
Page Hopkins: As I just said, NATO said to take over in Afghanistan, Afghanistan amid these reports of rising violence there. You were the NATO Supreme Allied Commander. What exactly is the job they have to do in a situation like this.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, they're going to have to do exactly what the United States has been doing and more. It's not enough simply to respond to Taliban attacks. You've got to go out there, build intelligence, and you've got to create the, somehow - working with Hamid Karzai and the international community - you've got to create employment in the region, so people have a way of resisting the blandishments and threats of the Taliban. Thus far, our forces are pretty effective at responding to the Taliban, but we haven't been able to prevent them from still building support and encroaching on areas after people don't have any means of support.
Page Hopkins: Sort of being a little more preemptive.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We got to be preemptive economically and politically, not just militarily.
Page Hopkins: Well, President Karzai says that we have to enlist local tribesman. Is this likely to happen? Will NATO be able to do that?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, we will if there's a way of also providing for the livelihood of the members of the tribes. The problem is to get the economics, the politics and the military all synchronized together with enough scale to really be able to do the job. Normally, you figure it takes ten times as many soldiers as insurgents in order to win in a conflict like this. And we don't know how many insurgents there are, but we know one thing, across Afghanistan we probably don't have enough troops there. We never have had enough troops from the time we started out in 2002, because Afghanistan was a poor step-child to the planning and preparation and execution of the war in Iraq. So-
Page Hopkins: Wha- Sir, when you talk about employing these people as a way of co-opting the local tribesmen, are you saying NATO goes in there and actually offers these people jobs?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Someone has to. Someone has to give them something to do other than grow opium poppies. These people were- First of all, there are lots of young people. The economy needs to grow outside of Kabul, and yet it's very difficult for them to get economic livelihood. When to Soviets were there, they destroyed the irrigation channels. They cut down the orchards, and frankly, there's no crop that can bring in as much money as opium poppies
Page Hopkins: Mm Hm.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: So, there, once they start growing that, then they have to engage in protection, and it's illegal. And that drives them into the arms of the Taliban.
Page Hopkins: So, do, does the opium trade fuel and fund the Taliban?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think the Taliban probably is taking advantage of it, taxing it, supporting it, and using it as a wedge to drive away Hamid Karzai and the government.
Page Hopkins: I want to switch gears a little but, Sir, ask you about the report out of Gitmo that three detainees committed suicide. What's your take on the situation there?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's a really tough problem. You know, we don't know from the outside, and I don't know how much information's been gathered from these people. There are some reports that say they're still getting a little bit of information from them. I think that after five years, it's time to move past Gitmo. Somehow, we have to get these people out. They either have to be released, they have to be transferred to some other facility for internment, or they have to be put on international trial.
Page Hopkins: But sir-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And we need to move past Gitmo.
Page Hopkins: Do, General Clark, do you really think releasing these prisoners is a viable alternative?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It depends on what they did. Some of these people, apparently, were just turned in, kind of swept up in a dragnet, and we know we've release some of them already. So, I hope there's a process underway. I hope it has real credibility, and we can find out what they did and why. Otherwise, it's a long-term, impossible problem.
Page Hopkins: General Wesley Clark, thanks for joining us today.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.
