WASHINGTON - In a reversal of policy, the U.S. military said on Tuesday it would no longer require female American troops to wear a traditional, long "abayah" robe in Saudi Arabia to avoid offending Muslim sensitivities.

Officials of the U.S. Central Command told Reuters that the step was outlined in a directive from Army Gen. Tommy Franks to regional commanders in the conservative Saudi kingdom and the Gulf region.

Franks is head of the command, which is responsible for American military operations in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East and Gulf.

Female American troops have since the 1991 Gulf War been required to wear the abayah, a traditional item of dress similar to the Afghan burqa, when off base in Saudi Arabia.

Republican Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire issued a statement praising the reversal. It makes wearing an abayah off base discretionary, but strongly recommends that it be worn in the kingdom, a longtime U.S. military ally in the region.

The memo also told local U.S. commanders in the region to reverse any policies or regulations that civilian clothing be worn to cover American military uniforms. But it did nothing to challenge Saudi rules against women driving automobiles or to end a U.S. requirement for servicewomen to be escorted by a man when they leave their base.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Martha McSally, the nation's highest-ranking female fighter pilot, earlier filed a lawsuit to end the policy, which the Pentagon said was necessary to avoid offending Muslim sensitivities.

Tuesday's move came only days after a report that Saudi leaders might be considering asking the U.S. military to leave the country due to pressures from within the kingdom, birthplace of Islam.

The policy change also followed a recent warning by the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said the U.S. Air Force might need to end operations at Prince Sultan Air Base, given the restrictions on its personnel.

The United States insisted last week that all was well in the U.S.-Saudi relationship despite some signs of a strain in the wake of Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the attacks, is of Saudi origin and has said attacks on U.S. targets are partly aimed at forcing the U.S. military out of Saudi Arabia.

The White House said on Friday that President George W. Bush wanted to keep the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, despite reported grumblings from the Saudis that the United States has overstayed its welcome.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia's rulers were growing more uncomfortable with the U.S. military presence in their country and might soon ask that it end.

That report said senior Saudi rulers believed that the United States should pull out because its forces had become a political liability.

Saudi Arabia depends on the United States for its defense, but has found itself walking a tightrope, with increasing uneasiness among many Saudis over the presence of U.S. troops there.

If asked to leave, the United States would no longer have regular use of the Prince Sultan Air Base, where American forces have maintained a presence since the Gulf War, more than a decade ago.

"We may need to move that base," Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said last week. He said the Saudis had pressed U.S. personnel to operate at a base in a remote region and seemed to "want us out of sight." Nampa-Reuters