"On behalf of the president and the American people, I wanted to express our sorrow at the tremendous tragedy of the earthquake," Cheney said at the start of a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

An official from Musharraf's office said the Pakistani leader had thanked Cheney for Washington's "timely support" and said it was critical in dealing with the massive natural disaster.

Musharraf said US helicopters played a crucial role in relief and rescue operations in the immediate aftermath of the October 8 tragedy.

"The two leaders also exchanged views on bilateral issues in a host of fields and on regional and international issue of common concern," the Pakistani presidential official said after the closed-door talks.

Cheney then travelled by helicopter to Muzaffarabad, the quake-ravaged capital of Pakistani Kashmir, where he and his wife Lynne met with survivors seeking medical attention at a US army field hospital.

"It's been an amazing experience to see the extent of the devastation," Cheney said.

The 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir and 1,300 in India.

The US government, one of the top donors to the relief effort, has pledged 510 million dollars for quake-hit areas of Pakistan.

Cheney on Monday attended the historic inauguration of Afghanistan's first parliament in more than 30 years and visited US troops stationed there, after making a surprise visit to Iraq.

The US vice president was due to travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt but cut short his trip to be in Washington in case he needs to cast the tie-breaking vote in the US Senate on key legislation, the White House said.

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