The defense secretary’s announcement that the United States would allow Qatar to build an air force facility in Idaho was “in the works for years” and mirrors accommodations made for a handful of other allies in the country, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson told Military Times on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday during a meeting at the Pentagon with his Qatari counterpart, Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, that Mountain Home Air Force Base “will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training [and] increase the lethality, interoperability.”

After criticism from prominent figures in the GOP’s MAGA base, including right-wing personality Laura Loomer, Qatar’s media attaché to the U.S. later clarified that a stand-alone Qatari air base would not ex

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