Calling India a leading power in South Asia, a prominent American think tank has recommended to the US administration that it would be in its long-term interests to focus more on its partnership with India rather than Pakistan.

"America's long-term interests in Asia require a partnership with India, not Pakistan. India is not only the leading power in South Asia; it is a rising great power with a reach beyond that region," Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, has said in his latest study.

"India can be a stabilising force in the Persian Gulf as well as a strategic counterweight to China," says the study titled 'Uncooperative Pakistan Rates Less U.S. Aid'.

Carpenter warns the US government not to jeopardise its 'embryonic' strategic partnership with India while seeking Pakistan's cooperation in the short term to eliminate the Al Qaeda's remaining infrastructure.

Fortunately, he said, President George W Bush declined to approve the delivery of 60 F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan, which would have strengthened its military position vis-a-vis India.

The foreign policy expert also reminded the Bush administration that Pakistan has not been a consistent and enthusiastic ally in the war against terror.

"Let's remember that Pakistan was the chief political and financial sponsor of the Taliban," he added.