Both the statement and some of the supportive comments here sound pretty ignorant of both historic context and current conditions.
The reasons Pakistan has been a US ally is that India was a Soviet ally, with socialism written into their constitution. So it's not strange or weird in any way. With the modern-day successes of the BJP this is changing, of course. Pakistan remains an important ally because they can cause a ton of trouble if designated a foe.
India can't vanquish any local foes because the 2 they have are China and Pakistan, both of which are nuclear powers (and in the case of China economically and militarily stronger).
"I mean, yeah the Pakistanis are worse on human rights and democracy than India, but at least they can fight terrorism(and fund it)."
Come on, you're better than this. If needed, India could do as much or more than Pakistan in Afghanistan.
I have been advocating this for a long time, and I'm glad to see Trump beginning this.
I'm not a fan of the Pakistani state, but it's silly to think any state will be able command as much influence in Afghanistan as much as Pakistan. Even if we deem Pakistan a foe and turn to India in Afghanistan, they're still going to fund the Taliban to prevent having adverse coutries on both sides of them. And ofc, Pakistan will always have more influence because of geography and India not wanting to get sucked into a quagmire.
