BY : Lalit K Jha For NDTV

A senior Bush Administration official said on Tuesday that India matters more for the United States than its long term ally Pakistan, even though the Indo-US relationship many a times gets stuck due to domestic political compulsions of both countries.

''India simply must, as a long term consideration, matter more for us than Pakistan,'' James Clad, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, told a group of online journalists and bloggers Tuesday in a conference call from Pentagon. This is true even though Pakistan is leading from the front in the US-led global war against terrorism, he said.

Terming the Indo-US strategic potential as ''very, very profound,'' Clad, who is a top Defense Department policy maker for South and Southeast Asia, said: ''It's been slow in coming - I think it will be slow in coming in the future - but it is steady. The trend lines are unmistakable.''

Referring to the growth of the Indian economy in the past one decade and in other fields too, Clad said India is seen by the US as a potentially a power with global reach.

A similar view was expressed by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, early this month at a public lecture wherein he strongly advocated the case of a building a US-India strategic partnership in the 21st century.

Responding to questions, Clad gave details of the growing defense relationship between the two countries - be it the joint Indo-US military exercise, visit of the USS Nimitz to Chennai, giving refurbished USS Trenton to India or increasing economic relationship.

With the prospects of the opening of India's defense sector, as many as 52 American defense corporations have opened their offices in India including the top names like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Ratheon, Honeywelll and General Electrical.

The US companies for the first time are competing for the 126 multi-role combat aircraft, which is now being procured by the Indian Air Force.

''It is the largest external-announced defense procurement budget in the world. People are obviously interested in this,'' he said. For the first time, the US companies are looking to have a share in the import of India's defense needs, which so far was more or less dependent on the Russian or to some extent from European countries like France and Britain.

Clad said the growing economic relationship between the two countries was very significant for both India and the United States.

''You hit a golf ball on the Bangalore golf course, and that ball, unless you're careful, is going to go right through a window of IBM, which is right next to Infosys, which is an Indian firm staffed by Indian-Americans who are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange. So it's a much bigger relationship,'' he said.

Known for playing a key role in building a strong relationship between India and the US in the sector of defense, Clad said the Indo-US relationship is now more comprehensive in trade, information technology, movements of its people and the presence of the large and influential Indian-American community.

''It's about maintaining a type of equilibrium, about accepting India's rise into a type of maturity and power and prowess I think we broadly welcome,'' Clad said.