Monday, September 11 2006 12:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Defending the war on terror and the American involvement in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney said if America abandoned Baghdad in the face of violent insurgency the countries that will hurt most are Pakistan and Afghanistan not to mention the credibility of the US.

"You've got hundreds of thousands, millions of people out there, who have staked their fate to some extent on the United States" and its efforts in Iraq, Cheney said on 'Meet the Press' on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Cheney had very positive responses of the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf whom he described as someone who puts his "neck on the line every day he goes to work".

"There have been attempts on his life because of his support of (the United States). And they look over here and see the United States, which has made a commitment to the Iraqis. And all of sudden we say, 'It's too tough; we're going home'," the Vice President said.

Cheney was one of the top administration officials doing the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, the other being Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

And one of the major tasks was to debunk the notion in some quarters that somehow the US and the rest of the world would have been better off if Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq or if Washington did not have the stomach to stay in this war on terror to a finish.