The presidents of Yemen and the United States are both preaching caution when it comes to dealing with al Qaeda's presence in the Gulf state.
U.S. President Barack Obama ruled out the possibility of sending troops into Yemen, despite intelligence reports indicating the country served as the training ground for the thwarted Christmas Day airline terror suspect.
Obama dismissed the possibility of an invasion in an interview he granted People Magazine on Friday.
"I have no intention of sending U.S. boots on the ground in these regions," Obama said.
"I never rule out any possibility in a world that is this complex," he continued. But added that "in countries like Yemen, in countries like Somalia ... working with international partners is most effective at this point."
Despite U.S. pressure for Yemen to crack down on al Qaeda suspects within its borders, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he's ready to talk to members of the movement who renounce violence.
"Dialogue is the best way ... even with al Qaeda," Saleh told an Abu Dhabi television station on Saturday. "If they set aside their weapons and return to reason."
The careful approach of both leaders is indicative of the delicate balance that must be maintained to ensure Yemen doesn't fall further into chaos.
Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at University of Bradford in England, warned that Yemen is a difficult country to control due to large areas of insurgency that can't be centrally governed.
"While Yemen cannot be listed as the hot spot for al Qaeda, it is an area in which the movement can possibly develop," Rogers told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel. "It will be very difficult for the United States to go in their militarily because that would stir up considerable anti-American feeling in the country of which there is quite a lot already."
He also pointed to the declining price of oil and the country's depleted reserves as economic factors that could throw the country further into disarray.
Yemen has been weakened in recent years through multiple wars and crises. The Sa'dah insurgency has raged in northern Yemen since 2004, spilling over into Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the separatist South Yemen insurgency continues to threaten the authority Saleh's government.
Causing further concern to Western nations is the country's ties to hardline Islamic figures such as Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani. While he is one of Yemen's most prominent clerics he has also been linked to al Qaeda by the U.S.
However, Rogers said that the United States cannot let the thwarted attack on the Detroit-bound plane get them sidetracked on their current obligations in Afghanistan.
He pointed to the recent attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan's Khost province as a sign that al Qaeda is still thriving.
"The prognostications of the decline of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan may actually be overrated," Rogers said. He added that the attack "demonstrated the capability of the al Qaeda movement still within the Afghan-Pakistan are quite apart from any developments in Yemen."
With reports from Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel and The Associated Press
