WASHINGTON:
The United States has reached an agreement to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The base in question is Al Udeid Air Base, which is located in the desert southwest of Doha and is home to the largest US military installation in the Middle East, the source said, asking not to be named.
The development was first reported by CNN. The US Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The tiny Gulf state has played a key role in mediating talks with Hamas and Israeli officials over the war in Gaza and the release of hostages taken by the Palestinian resistance group in its Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people .
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US President Joe Biden has been holding regular talks with Qatar’s emir since Oct. 7 about freeing Hamas hostages and boosting aid to Gaza, where Israel’s offensive after Hamas has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, according to with the Gaza health authorities.
There has also been criticism of Qatar by some in the US Congress over the presence of Hamas in the country. A bipartisan group of 113 US lawmakers on October 16 sent a letter to Biden asking him to put pressure on countries that support Hamas, including Qatar.
Qatar is also a major US non-NATO ally, a designation granted by the United States to close non-NATO allies that have strategic working relationships with the US military.
The Gulf state has also been a conduit for US dialogue with the Taliban since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. It played a role in brokering deals that in late 2023 led to the release of some Americans from Venezuela and Iran in exchanges prisoners.
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