Describing India as a "great power," the US has said it has deepened its ties with New Delhi, including through the extraordinary trip of President Barack Obama to the country in November last year.
"We fully embraced India's rise as a great power and a great partner for the United States," US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters at a White House briefing Friday evening.
Donilon's remarks came within less than an hour of the Oval office meeting between Obama and his visiting Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.
Donilon said the US so far has been under-involved in Asia and Obama is all set to correct that.
"We have really deepened our relationship with India," he said at his briefing on Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit here during which he explained in detail increasing American relationship with Asian countries including Japan and South Korea.
Speaking highly of Obama's November India trip, Donilon said this was the first visit by an American President to the country since March 2006.
"There was an effort there where we were really trying to make really kind of a step function increase in the quality of the relationship and had a different set -- it just
had a different strategic dynamic to it," Donilon said.
"Three days there in India, again, trying to build out each of the aspects of the relationship. It was a different project," said the National Security Adviser.