Dismantling US Foreign Assistance

United States foreign assistance programs, notably the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), are being annihilated as its activities are put on hold and its foreign service officers and civil servants are being forcibly retired.

Current US foreign assistance has its roots in the post-WW2 era, when the United States, flush on the heels of victory over European and east Asian fascism, led global efforts to consolidate its allies in support of peace, economic growth and stability.

Under Present Truman, Point Four was established to provide technical assistance and investment in developing nations. While this effort was designed to deter the advance of Soviet communism in the Global South, Point Four and its sequelae agency USAID, focused on enhancing economic growth, advancing democracy, and promoting social development.

For over sixty years, USAID has invested in building allies through partnerships that built schools, advanced access to health care, and promoted democracy. As the federal agency that is engaged in the diplomacy of soft power, USAID, invests in social development – those activities that are aimed at improving social indicators of development, such as literacy, longevity, educational achievement, food production, access to political participation, civil rights, health care, and quality of life.

Support for US foreign assistance has historically not been a partisan issue. Conservatives have been supportive because such assistance builds political alliances, develops international markets, increases wealth, reduces international tension, and globally advances American foreign policy. Liberals have backed foreign assistance because it reduces hunger and extreme poverty, advances girl’s and women’s education, promotes human rights, and enhances mutual beneficial cultural alliances.

While some have argued that it more important to invest those dollars here in the United States, they fail to see that USAID’s funding at a mere 1.2% of the total federal budget, reaps untold benefits in programs that develop markets for American products and ideas. Such aid is not a giveaway, it is an investment that yields over the long term.

To abandon American foreign assistance opens the doors for our global adversaries to fill the void. China has been investing a fortune in courting American allies in the Global South and will seize this opportunity to accelerate its economic and political position. But more profoundly, discarding our humanitarian mission will result in hunger, disease, and reduced economic opportunities for countless families around the world. and preventable loss of life.

Withdrawing into “Fortress America” is a losing strategy for advancing American interests through the strategic use of soft power.

Mark Lusk, a Las Cruces resident, is professor emeritus at the University of Texas at El Paso