Overt weaponization of aid with USAID's end

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed the end of the US Agency for International Development on Tuesday.

It means that under the current US administration, the United States' foreign aid will take off the mask of USAID — which claimed its main job was helping less-developed partners address poverty, disease, and humanitarian crises, and promoting sustainable development — and become an undisguised instrument to advance the country's geopolitical agenda in foreign countries, particularly the less-developed ones.

"As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies — and which advance American interests — will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency," Rubio said.