By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - America was their savior. Now, as the United States turns to an all-out battle against terror, Muslims across the Balkans fear that their region will fall off Washington's map - and their enemies will gain the upper hand.

``If they leave there will be war again, and that's for sure,'' says Rashid Halit, an ethnic Albanian religious leader in the Macedonian capital of Skopje, where American diplomats have played a key role in ending the country's ethnic conflict. ``I don't even want to entertain the thought.''

There is no sign that the United States is losing interest in Macedonia, Kosovo or Bosnia, home to millions of Muslims, even as it marshals its resources to retaliate for the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites).

Thousands of U.S. troops remain on peacekeeping duty in the region, and America remains diplomatically active in maintaining peace or bringing it to past or present areas of war.

In a message that singled out Macedonia but was clearly meant to reassure a wider Balkan audience, U.S. envoy James Pardew, a key architect of the country's peace process, this week told The Associated Press that Washington ``remains focused'' on the country, despite the attacks and America's response in the making.

Direct U.S. involvement in the region began nearly a decade ago, as Yugoslavia's breakup precipitated a series of conflicts and the West moved in to try and end the turmoil.

U.S. pressure in Bosnia and Kosovo led to NATO (news - web sites) airstrikes that helped end the fighting. Peace settlements for those wars and Macedonia's conflict bear America's imprimatur, along with its allies. And U.S. troops, diplomats, experts - as well as billions of dollars in aid spent over the past 10 years - are keeping the lid on tensions and nudging the region toward normality.

With Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia home to at least 3.5 million Muslims who are overwhelmingly moderate and friends of America, Western diplomats argue that it is in the United States' strategic interest to stay even as it gears up for its battle on terror elsewhere.

``If these places get screwed up, the whole of the Balkans could get unraveled,'' said a senior envoy from one of the 19 NATO countries who asked for anonymity. ``Fundamentalism could get a fine grip.''

Still, American interest in the Balkans could flag as a worldwide campaign against terrorists extends into months, or even years, straining U.S. resources.

Reflecting how quickly focus can change, Skopje's five-star Aleksandar Palace hotel, which teemed with Western journalists, diplomats and aid workers before the Sept. 11 terrorist strike, is eerily empty, with less than a quarter of its 135 rooms occupied.

Mark Wheeler of the International Crisis Group think tank sees the new anti-terrorist campaign as an opportunity for the U.S. administration to do what President Bush (news - web sites) first pledged during his election campaign - reduce American troops in Bosnia.

Even though Bush subsequently backtracked, Washington ``could use these events as an excuse to leave,'' said Wheeler, in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.

Some Western diplomats in the region concur - although they emphasize that any drawdown will be gradual and dependent on the length and success of America's anti-terror battle.

``They will gradually find ways to bring down numbers,'' said one senior Western envoy who asked not to be named.

Others suggested that other members of NATO could be called on to pick up any of the slack left by a reduction of American troops.

But any thoughts of living without America's shield is frightening to those who owe their liberty - and in some cases their existence - to Washington's engagement in the area.

``The American flag means freedom here - I can't imagine Kosovo without the American presence,'' says Ludrim Aliu, 25, and a student at the university in Pristina, Kosovo's capital. ``Wars will start again, and we will be faced with tremendous suffering.''

For Bosnian assembly line worker Ekrem Ljuta, 44, the United States and the rest of the West already have started turning their backs on her part of the Balkans.

``The many envoys that used to visit us all the time do not come any more - nobody comes any more,'' he says.

``If the Americans leave there will be war here.''

EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated Press writers Aida Cerkez-Robinson and Garentina Kraja contributed to this story.