Qatar and the US have reached an agreement on expanding Al Udeid Airbase, which currently hosts over 13,000 American and coalition troops. “We are grateful for your country’s willingness to make sure that the airbase can meet the needs of the US military for decades to come,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Doha. Qatar’s foreign minister said his country’s ties to the US have “enabled us to confront so many regional and international challenges.”