(PTI): The US president says he would do his utmost to forestall formation of South Asian militant sanctuaries that could lead to 9/11-like attacks.

“As commander in chief, it is my job to make sure that (Osama) bin Laden and his cronies are not able to create a safe haven within which they can kill another 3,000 Americans or more,” Obama said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“They are the single most direct threat to our national security interests,” he added.

Four commercial planes were hijacked on September 11, 2001. Two of the airliners crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one hit the Pentagon and the fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The incident claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people.

Alleged al-Qaeda number three, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is currently in US custody in the Cuba-based Guantanamo prison, has confessed to planning the hijacking.

The attack was followed by ratcheted-up security at home and the country’s unilateral invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under the banner of the combating the insurgency — or more commonly ‘war on terror’ –in the respective states.

To date, the US military attacks on alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan have been incurring considerable civilian fatalities.

The Afghan invasion also sent the kingpins of Taliban — associated with al-Qaeda — across the border to the tribal regions of Pakistan. Major Pakistani towns and cities are now tainted with insurgent influence.

Despite the ensuing anti-American sentiment in both countries, Obama has assigned 21,000 soldiers and a high number of civilian experts to the Afghanistan-based contingents.

“In Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan we do have real problems with the Taliban and al Qaeda,” the president added in his Wednesday remarks.

An escalated American role is feared to drive the insurgents further inside Pakistan with reports saying that top Taliban heads have now based themselves in the port city of Karachi.