NEW YORK - Two-thirds of Pakistanis oppose the US-led war in Afghanistan and roughly six in 10 think the US is an enemy, according to a new survey. The data, released Thursday by the non-partisan Pew Research Centre in Washington, underscores the challenges facing the Obama administration, which has made Pakistan a key ally in its fight to rout Afghanistan-based Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. The Pew survey found that only 11 percent of Pakistanis see the US as a partner and just 8 percent have confidence that President Barack Obama will make good decisions on global affairs. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said June 25 that the US was determined to strengthen Afghanistan and Pakistan to be able to withstand the pressures from these extremist terrorist networks. Yet the percentage of Pakistanis who support the US involvement in the fight against extremists has dropped to 19 percent this year from 24 percent in 2009. And fewer Pakistanis see the militants as a threat. In 2009, 57 percent of Pakistanis saw the Taliban as a very serious threat to their country. This year, the number fell to 34 percent. Last year, 41 percent said al-Qaeda posed a very serious threat to Pakistan. This year, 21 percent of respondents felt that way. In contrast, 52 percent said India posed the greatest threat to their country. Pakistan has a long history of feeling like the US has abandoned it, favoured India, has not been a consistent ally, Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a non-partisan research group in Washington, was quoted as saying. Many Pakistanis associate the violence in Pakistan with the US presence and the Afghan war, Cordesman said. Those attitudes are reinforced by nationalistic media and hard-line religious groups and because Pakistanis have yet to feel the effects of US aid, Cordesman said. Mrs Clinton, during her visit to Pakistan, acknowledged a legacy of suspicion among Pakistanis. It is not going to disappear overnight, she said. The US is committed for the long haul to working with Pakistanis as you pursue this very difficult struggle, she said July 19 after talks with Pakistani officials. The Pakistani survey is part of the larger Pew Global Attitudes project conducted in 22 nations. Pew said its survey was based on face-to-face interviews with 2,000 Pakistanis conducted from April 13 to April 28 in all four provinces of the country. Areas of instability, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the population, were not polled. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points. The poll also says that fewer Pakistanis are concerned about armed groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Such groups remain deeply unpopular in Pakistan, and a majority of the Pakistani public views them as a threat, but they are viewed slightly more favourably than last year, Pews results indicated. The survey also found that US drone strikes remain deeply unpopular; that most Pakistanis want the US to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan; and that few expect their countrys struggling economy to improve over the next 12 months. Just 15 per cent of Pews respondents approved of the Taliban; 18 per cent expressed favourable views of al-Qaeda. Those numbers are up slightly from 2009, though, when 10 per cent of respondents endorsed the Taliban and nine per cent approved of al-Qaeda. The number of Pakistanis calling the Taliban and al-Qaeda a serious threat declined by 19 points and 23 points, respectively. Fifty-one per cent of respondents said they were very worried or somewhat worried about extremist groups taking control of the country, down from 69 per cent last year. More than half of respondents called India their greatest threat, although a vast majority also supported increased trade and better relations with their neighbour to the east. The survey also found little enthusiasm for the US drone attacks carried out in Pakistans tribal areas. Just 32 per cent of Pakistanis said the raids were necessary; 90 per cent said they kill too many civilians. The exact number of civilians killed by drone strikes is the subject of much debate, with most credible estimates running between 300 and 400 people - roughly one-third of all reported fatalities. Barack Obama, the US president, has escalated the drone strike programme over the last 18 months. Of the 146 strikes carried out in Pakistan since 2004, 50 of them have occurred in 2010 alone, according to data collected by the Washington-based New America Foundation. Pew also found widespread dissatisfaction with the state of domestic affairs in Pakistan: 84 per cent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the state of the country. Pakistanis remain in a grim mood about the state of their country. Overwhelming majorities are dissatisfied with national conditions, unhappy with the nations economy, and concerned about political corruption and crime. Only one-in-five express a positive view of President Asif Ali Zardari, down from 64 per cent just two years ago, according to the study. One main reason was pessimism about the economy, which has posted its worst-ever growth rates over the last two years. Blackouts leave much of the country without power for hours each day; the official unemployment rate stands at more than 14 per cent; and the government recently raised the price of sugar by 25 per cent to cope with shortages, raising fears of another sugar crisis like the one that sparked widespread public anger last year. Only 19 per cent of respondents expect the economy to improve over the next year, while fully half expect it will deteriorate further. The widespread anger about domestic affairs translated into strong support for opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-N. Seventy-one per cent of respondents had a positive view of Sharif, giving him a better favour ability rating than Iftikhar Muhammad Chau-dhry, the popular chief justice, and General Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief. Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, received a 59 per cent favour ability rating, while Imran Khan, the ex-cricketer-turned-politician, received 52 per cent.