This document from the Post’s Afghanistan Papers clearly explains something I heard a while back and, I imagine, explains a fair amount about US policy RE: India and Pakistan.
The document describes the NSC South Asia Office thusly:
Originally, under Bush the NSC carved out a South Asia directorate that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and the other smaller states. In 2008 there was a decision to take India out of the South Asia bureau and to treat Afghanistan and Pakistan separately. It was like a donut hole in the middle of the whole policy for South Asia bureau…