Can SOAP be used for building HTTPS clients ????

["Nilesh Kumar, Koratpallikar" <ni...@tanning.com>]

Hi,
 
I am trying to write a HTTPS client, which would talk to a secure site.
Wanted to know if I can use SOAP for building such a client ????.  Basically
I was looking for some API's which would deal with complexities of SSL
handshaking, authentication.
 
Any Inputs will be greatly appreciated.
 
thanx & reg
nilesh