We should have been natural allies with Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, but instead, we decided to support the continuation of colonialism. We had a hard time decided to like countries that just wanted to go their own way and fell into a huge area in choosing Pakistan over India because Nehru wanted to go a 3rd way in the world.
If containing atheistic communism is a primary goal, I suspect any Islamic state is a more reliable ally than a socialist Hindu state. India wanted to play both sides off against each other, and they’ve paid a price for that. The non-aligned states they led offer little at this point; instead they export workers to the West. In the meantime, they have to maintain ageing Soviet-bloc weapons while replacing them with newer US-made technology. Historically and culturally, we have no real relationship with India except that both are former British colonies with only a common language.
As I understand it, our support of the French was primarily to contain communism; supporting colonialism was just part of the deal.