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The United States does not plan to send U.S. troops into Yemen or Somalia as those countries struggle to contain Islamic militants, President Barack Obama said in remarks published on Sunday.

“I have no intention of sending U.S. boots on the ground in these regions,” Obama told People magazine, referring to Yemen and Somalia.

“I have every intention of working with our international partners in lawless areas around the globe to make sure that we’re keeping the American people safe,” Obama added, according to a transcript provided by the magazine.

Obama has said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, appears to have trained, equipped and directed the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, using explosives sewn into his underwear.

Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-inspired insurgency, has seized large areas of south and central Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation situated across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, which is located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

“We’ve known throughout this year that al Qaeda in Yemen has become a more serious problem. And, as a consequence, we have partnered with the Yemeni government to go after those terrorist training camps and cells there in a much more deliberate and sustained fashion,” Obama said.

“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,” he added.

The United States already has large contingents of ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.