Jan 4, 2015

The hospitalization of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in late December raises the possibility that Saudi Arabia will have a new king in 2015. The succession should be smooth: The more difficult succession questions are still down the road.

The king is 91, with a history of back surgeries. The royal palace at first said he was admitted to the King Abdulaziz National Guard hospital in Riyadh for "tests" and later said he is suffering from pneumonia and is breathing with a tube. Abdullah was a heavy smoker for years and has been reported to have lung cancer.

Crown Prince Salman, born Dec. 31, 1935, who is also defense minister, has been chairing Cabinet meetings for several months and handling almost all foreign travel responsibilities for the monarchy since he became the heir in 2012. He has visited China, Japan, India, Pakistan, the Maldives and France since becoming crown prince after the death of his predecessor, Prince Nayif.

Salman was governor of Riyadh province for 48 years. When he became governor in 1963, Riyadh had 200,000 inhabitants; today, it has more than 7 million. Salman presided over this remarkable transformation with a record for good governance and a lack of corruption. Since most of the royal princes and princesses live in Riyadh, he was also the family sheriff, ensuring any transgressions were dealt with smoothly and quietly with no publicity.

Salman also oversaw the collection of private funds to support the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s, working very closely with the kingdom's Wahhabi clerical establishment. In the early years of the war, before the United States and the kingdom ramped up their secret financial support for the anti-Soviet insurgency, this private Saudi funding was critical to the war effort. At its peak, Salman was providing $25 million a month to the mujahedeen. He was also active in raising money for the Bosnian Muslims in the war with Serbia.