US reaches deal to stay at Al Udeid for another 10 years, reports say
Stars and StripesJan 03
CNN reported on Tuesday — citing three US defense officials and another source allegedly familiar with the matter — that Washington has reached an agreement with Doha to extend its military presence at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base for another 10 years.
Reuters also reportedly corroborated information about the extension through an anonymous source. The base located in the desert southwest of Doha reputedly hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East.
Over the past twenty years, American operations across the Middle East have shown the importance of the US military footprint in Qatar. Therefore, it's highly positive that the US will be able to continue operating out of Al Udeid for another decade, especially amid escalating conflicts with Iranian-backed militias and regional instability in general.
Though America should have been adjusting its overseas basing to be able to address current needs, Washington apparently is unable to abandon a framework that worked in the past. It's certain that Al Udeid was an asset to fight the Taliban, but it's unlike that Doha will ever allow the US to use the base in any operation against Iran and its proxy militias.
There's an 8% chance that the US and Iran will be primary actors on opposite sides of a war before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.