India wasnt a part of the US led alliance because the US drove away India, by getting chummy with Pakistan. Remember you can only be pals with with Pakistan or India, never both>>
You got it - for India - " You are either with Pakistan or you are with us " America chose Pakistan as a frontline state against "communist expansionism and has paid a price with September 11 and still trying to "prove" to India that they are useful. Till US dumps Pakistan - lock stock and barrel and converts it into a wasteland - India can never be friends with America.
I for one, believe the world was safest in history during the Cold War years. Too much at stake for the superpowers. Today, the world is perhaps in its most dangerous and dire times, and things look to become only worse. God bless us in the free world.