John,

It’s been a busy month on the foreign policy front. With President Biden’s first 100 days officially in the books, new challenges are emerging for his administration in China, the Middle East, Russia, and more. 

Catch up on all the top foreign policy headlines from the last month below and take our survey to weigh in on President Biden’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.

[READ] MIKE LEADS EFFORT TO BOLSTER CYBERSECURITY THROUGH DIPLOMACY

The bottom line: “The so-called Cyber Diplomacy Act would require the State Department to develop a strategy for promoting norms in cyberspace around what behavior is acceptable in cyberspace. The proposal would also create an ambassador role for cyber diplomacy, as well as a centralized Bureau of International Cyberspace Policy to push democratic norms in cyberspace and advise the Secretary of State on cyber issues. “In an increasingly connected world, we must have the proper structures in place to promote our values and interests in cyberspace,” Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who co-led the bill’s introduction, said in a statement. –– CyberScoop

[READ] AMERICAN AND TAIWANESE DIPLOMATS MEET, ANGERING CHINA

The bottom line: “An unprecedented public meeting between officials from U.S. and Taiwan has infuriated China but portends the Biden administration's new plans for handling relations with the strategically consequential country Beijing considers a renegade province. Chinese state media on Monday highlighted outrage from its government about a lunch meeting on Friday between the top U.S. and Taiwanese diplomats based in France. "There is only one China," China's Embassy in France said in a statement released Sunday, according to a translation.”  –– U.S. News & World Report

[READ] FOREIGN POLICY ON BACKBURNER IN BIDEN’S FIRST ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

The bottom line: “President Joe Biden’s recent address to Congress focused rather heavily on domestic matters, particularly his $2.3 trillion “infrastructure” package. We didn’t hear much about foreign affairs. That’s because he’s put them on the back burner to press forward with his “transformative,” and unprecedentedly expensive, domestic agenda.” –– James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Vice President of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation

[READ] BIDEN TO WITHDRAW ALL U.S. FORCES FROM AFGHANISTAN BY 9/11

The bottom line: “After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the vice president, as well as with [Afghan President Ashraf Ghani] and many others around the world, I concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home," the president said. “The United States met its objective 10 years ago with the assassination of Taliban leader Osama bin Laden,” he said, adding since then, "Our reasons for staying have become increasingly unclear.” –– U.S. Department of Defense

Do you support President Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan?

[READ] BIDEN ADMIN. WEIGHS ROLLING BACK SANCTIONS ON IRAN IN MIDST OF NUCLEAR TALKS

The bottom line: “The Biden administration is considering a near wholesale rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to get the Islamic Republic to return to compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear accord, according to current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter. As indirect talks continue this week in Vienna to explore the possibility of reviving the nuclear deal, American officials have become increasingly expansive about what they might be prepared to offer Iran, which has been driving a hard line on sanctions relief, demanding that all U.S. penalties be removed.” –– NBC News

[READ] SECRETARY BLINKEN VISITS UKRAINE IN WAKE OF RUSSIAN TROOP BUILDUP

The bottom line: “Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Kyiv on May 5-6 to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression," the State Department announced Friday. Blinken will be the most senior-ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine during the Biden administration. The trip comes in the aftermath of massive Russia military exercises near the Ukrainian border, and could precede a summit this summer between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. –– AXIOS

Thank you,

Team Gallagher