President Barack Obama affirmed that he has no plans at the moment to send the US troops to Yemen in response to concerns that Al Qaeda’s presence has become more dangerous in that country.
In an interview to the People magazine, Obama said: “We’ve known throughout this year that Al Qaeda in Yemen has become a more serious problem.”
He said that “the same is true in Somalia, another country where there are large chunks that are not fully under government control and Al Qaeda is trying to take advantage of them.”
The president said that while he never ruled out any possibilities, he has “no intention of sending U.S. boots on the ground in those regions” while the local governments remain effective partners.
The U.S. president said that he favours a “larger process of winning over the hearts and minds of ordinary people and isolating these violent extremists.”