he United States has few more important ・or skittish ・partners in its war against terrorism than the oil-saturated kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Even more than the Persian Gulf war, when Saudi Arabia was directly threatened by Iraqi forces on its border, this new campaign will test the political, economic and military ties that have long made America and Saudi Arabia uneasy allies.

As President Bush assembles and tries to hold together a coalition of disparate nations, he will have to be mindful of Saudi sensibilities ・not only because of traditional Saudi anxieties about aligning itself too closely with the West, but because the kingdom has an unusual role in this conflict. Osama bin Laden comes from a prominent Saudi business family. A principal aim of his worldwide campaign of terror is to evict American troops from Saudi soil and end Washington's decades-long commitment to the defense of Saudi Arabia and its royal family.

Washington should not hold back in seeking Saudi assistance in dismantling the bin Laden terror network. Saudi Arabia possesses an array of assets that can be critical in the war against terrorism, including great influence in the Islamic world, longstanding relations with Afghanistan's Taliban leadership and modern air bases. The Saudi royal family must put its considerable strengths to work in the American-led campaign.

History, geography and geology have made Saudi Arabia a fault line between civilizations. It is torn between conservative Islamic traditions and a modern global economy fueled by oil and money and defended by American military power. The kingdom is home to two of Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, and is governed, at least officially, by the precepts of the puritanical Wahabi strand of Sunni Islam. But for generations, political power in Saudi Arabia has been monopolized by an extended royal family. Saudi kings and princes have been worldly in their foreign policy and business dealings, sometimes ostentatiously corrupt in their personal lives and unyieldingly hostile to political debate and representative institutions.

Now they must rise to the challenge of navigating the kingdom's participation in a fight against terrorists who murder Americans in the name of a twisted interpretation of Islamic purity. Saudi Arabia is one of the few governments to have recognized the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Like the two other nations that did so, it needs to use what influence it has with the Taliban's leaders to insist that they hand over Mr. bin Laden.

If, as is likely, such calls go unheeded, Riyadh should give Washington the permission it seeks to use air bases on Saudi territory to launch and direct whatever military actions may be needed to destroy terrorist bases and training camps in Afghanistan. It should also cooperate with American intelligence agencies in rooting out terrorist cells and financial networks operating in Saudi Arabia itself. By its actions, it can demonstrate to other Muslim nations that Washington is leading an international campaign against terrorism, not, as some wrongly claim, a Western battle against the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia feels especially vulnerable to the strains of this crisis. But it is also particularly well placed to help build the broadest possible coalition against terror.