What Effect Will Qadir's Death Have on War on Terror?
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: To talk more about the situation now, we're joined by CNN military analyst, former NATO supreme commander, General Wesley Clark. Sir, thank you for being with us again.</s>WESLEY CLARK, GEN., RETIRED, MILITARY ANALYST: It's good to be with you, Catherine.</s>CALLAWAY: You know, you have to wonder how -- what kind of effect, if any, this will have on the U.S. operation going on there. Another assassination, there was another minister assassinated in February. What now?</s>CLARK: Well, this puts a lot more pressure on the United States and on the international security and the systems force currently under the command of Turkey to provide the kind of close information and protection that's needed to secure the Hamid Karzai government, that we've just got to do this. We've got to help the Afghans get on their feet, so they provide their own security. So it's one more brick to carry for the United States.</s>CALLAWAY: Yes, and it's just reiterates the unstable situation there. Certainly Qadir, with all of his experience of the situation in Afghanistan, was aware of the danger, but still was assassinated.</s>CLARK: He was aware of the danger, no doubt. But this is a man who's lived dangerously. He had -- reportedly had connections with drug trafficking. He'd been the governor of a province. He'd met Osama bin Laden. He'd had his quarrels with the Taliban. He'd been thrown out of Pakistan. He'd come to Germany. I mean, he was a very experienced operator in a dangerous world. And it caught up with him.</s>CALLAWAY: You know, I'm interested in Hamid Karzai's reaction to all this and what it will mean, if anything, to the way this interim government is run.</s>CLARK: I think it makes it much more difficult, obviously, for Hamid Karzai because he's running on the perception of outside power and influence. It's well known that he's backed by the United States. This has been an enormous source of credibility and power for him. Now he's had two instances this week that have attacked that credibility. First was the incident in which the AC-130 apparently killed a number and injured a much higher number of Afghan civilians in a number of villages, including the wedding party that's made headlines all around the world.</s>CALLAWAY: Right. I want to talk to you about that in a second.</s>CLARK: And everybody's upset about this.</s>CALLAWAY: Yes.</s>CLARK: And now this. So it's the Americans. They're not capable of using -- this is -- would be the charge and aren't capable of using the weapons effectively. They're killing innocent people. And not only that, they can't protect his government, and they don't have power. And in Afghanistan, power is everything. And so, these are two blows to Hamid Karzai. They're not fatal blows, but they are pressures against him and his government. And he's got to work his way through it.</s>CALLAWAY: And of course, the thoughts here in America is we have thousands of troops there. What's going to happen when they pull out?</s>CLARK: Well, I think that, although we've talked about maybe a year or so, really the commitment there has to be indefinite. As you know, we're in the process of training an army in Afghanistan. And the Afghan army to do the job of the international security and assistance force. And the hope is that this will not only provide security, but help unify the country. But that remains to be seen. And the effectiveness of that army remains to be seen. And so, we're very wise not to put a pullout date on the calendar. We need to be there, as the president said, to assure stability. We need to be there for as long as it takes. And hopefully with as much power and influence and money as it takes to do the job.</s>CALLAWAY: Getting back to the incident that you mentioned a moment ago, that happened earlier this week on the apparent attack on -- accidental attack rather on the wedding party in Afghanistan, there has been some numbers tossed out there, some more than 40 people at least who were killed in that. You know, it's hard to understand how that can happen when you -- I guess we don't hear a lot about what's actually going on with the raids, the attacks in Afghanistan. But a dangerous situation there. You have to wonder, general, how could this happen at this stage of the game?</s>CLARK: It's a day by day, night by night, reconnaissance and surveillance battle in Afghanistan. Our special forces troops, and those of a number of our allies, are constantly on patrol. Aircraft are overhead. When we find targets, we strike them. We're trying to get to know the people there. We've got some missions that go out and help rebuild schools and so forth, trying to collect intelligence and build relationships with the people, but we're still operating under what is basically wartime rules of engagement, meaning that when you receive fire, you're authorized to fire back. And that is apparently, although the investigation hasn't been completed, that's apparently what was behind the incident with the AC- 130. We're going to have to relook the rules of engagement, if that is in fact what happened. And we're going to have to be much more careful.</s>CALLAWAY: Yes, I was going to ask you, there has to be changes. You know, you have to wonder what the people of Afghanistan are thinking now this is happened again, where you know, alleged innocent people were killed in a conflict that was supposed to be winding down?</s>CLARK: It's the kind of incident that certainly doesn't sit well with people in that country or in any country. And certainly, we're very concerned about it. I'm confident that the men and women who were involved in the operation are just heartsick over this. They just can't believe that they would never have opened fire if they didn't believe that they were receiving fire and that they had legitimate targets down there. And yet, somehow, it didn't work. And that has to be unpacked. We've got to get to the bottom of this. And I'm sure we will and we will fix those rules of engagement, because that's the kind of armed forces we have in the United States. We're very honorable. We do the right thing. And we are honest among ourselves, and admitting our mistakes and so forth, and moving on from there.</s>CALLAWAY: You know, but general, coverage of it, it seems to be winding down in some areas. You have to wonder if that's all we are hearing about, are the things that happened like that.</s>CLARK: I think it's very hard to cover this kind of an operation because it's not so-called newsworthy on a continuing day by day basis. Much of the information is secret. You couldn't disclose it without compromising the operation. And so, you only get the peaks and the valleys. You get the big weapons caches. You get the big mistakes, but what you don't see is the day in, day out grind and danger and difficulty for the men and women who are serving there.</s>CALLAWAY: Well, I have to say our correspondents, especially those like Nic Robertson, are certainly there day in, day out, every day, sending us reports of what's going on. Thank you, general, for joining us.</s>CLARK: Thank you, Catherine. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com