WASHINGTON, April 18: A recent study for the US Army warns that nuclear cooperation with India could make the Asian nation so powerful that it may spin out of US sphere of influence and may team up with China to create its own bloc.

A recent study by a US Army think tank — the Strategic Studies Institute — says that India could change its attitude towards the United States once the nuclear deal, signed last year, is implemented and the necessary clearances from the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency had been obtained.

The study highlights India’s relations with Iran and its efforts to improve relations with China as key points of concern. The book notes that India’s close ties to Iran is moored into its desire to “outflank Pakistan,” and that New Delhi may not want to give up such strong strategic interests to please the US.

The publication — “Gauging US-Indian Strategic Cooperation” — lists several concerns it claims are held about India by the member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the IAEA and the US itself.

One of the major concerns is that the deal could also open the door for Pakistan to obtain nuclear reactors from other sources. “China (an NSG member) has offered nuclear cooperation to India, but has argued that any exception for India should be framed in such a way also to allow nuclear transfers to Pakistan as well,” says nuclear expert Henry Sokolski who edited the study, which includes articles by half a dozen international scholars, including some from Pakistan.

Author Charles D. Ferguson, while assessing the vulnerability of the Indian civilian nuclear programme to military and terrorist attacks, notes: “Closer Indo-American relations could also breed resentment in Pakistan and result in a more vulnerable India, especially in armed conflict involving India and Pakistan.”

The author sees the possibility that to counter India’s enhanced strength, Pakistan may encourage “separatist” elements in Kashmir and other parts of India to increase their activities. He urges India to “work with China and Pakistan towards a fissile material cap to limit the amount of plutonium potentially available to terrorists.”

On India’s relations with Iran, Mr Sokolski says: “Unless (India) clearly severs its military and strategic cooperative ties with the Revolutionary Iranian government, the United States should oppose the sharing even of ‘safeguarded’ space launch vehicle technology with New Delhi.”

Some of the questions raised by the authors include: Will nuclear cooperation expand or as some Indian and American critics have predicted, become effectively dead due to a lack of mutual nuclear interest? To what extent will Indian nuclear supporters.