The US primarily looks after its own interests: Can Washington be a good ally?

A question has been going around in the strategic circles in the recent weeks: Should India enter into a military alliance with the US and will Washington be a good ally? Quoting several experts, The Scroll.in noted: “India may eventually help the United States militarily in a security contingency involving China, in some form, to protect its own interests.” The Indian digital news publication also cites other views, for example an article of Ashley Tellis in The Foreign Affairs magazine in which the US strategist argues that the US policy “of courting India as a partner is a ‘bad bet’ because New Delhi will not follow Washington’s lead in confronting China during a regional crisis.” There is indeed some truth in the argument as there is no reason why India should blindly follow Washington in a military adventure in Taiwan or elsewhere. The Scroll.in mentions “a long discussion in foreign policy circles: what exactly should a US-India relationship look like in the age of Great Power rivalry between Washington and Beijing?” It notes that the US “has increasingly supported India when it comes to defence, hoping that Delhi will reciprocate with military help in case of a confrontation with China.” While Tellis rightly considers that Delhi would maintain its strategic autonomy in case Washington engages in the Taiwan Strait, other experts believe that even if Delhi does not sign a mutual defence arrangement with the US, India is “still a good bet for Washington.” They argue that Delhi may eventually come around to helping the United States militarily. The ‘experts’ quote in particular from a US News & World Report which says that “real-time intelligence shared by the United States military helped India stall a Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh in December 2022.” This refers to the confrontation in Yangtse, east of Bumla in the Tawang sector. When Chinese troops invaded northern India, it was logical for the US to immediately come to India’s assistance, especially after the two panicky letters sent on 19 November, 1962 by the Indian Prime Minister to President Kennedy begging for American assistance.