> the US and India aren't each other's closest ally confuses me
We increasingly are.
> why are we allies with Pakistan, a country that openly hates us, instead of India?
India openly allied with the Soviets, so we took the other side. Also, India was an immature democracy through the 70s, when it flirted with outright authoritarianism. It isn’t until recently that it has become a middle-income democracy with a high-income upper-middle class and cosmopolitan elite.
We increasingly are.
> why are we allies with Pakistan, a country that openly hates us, instead of India?
India openly allied with the Soviets, so we took the other side. Also, India was an immature democracy through the 70s, when it flirted with outright authoritarianism. It isn’t until recently that it has become a middle-income democracy with a high-income upper-middle class and cosmopolitan elite.