Aggression or Desperation: Reevaluating the Soviet Motivations for Invading Afghanistan

Authors

Kyle Sallee, Portland State University

Abstract

The pervading historical viewpoint of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 has centered on the notion of Soviet expansionism and aggression. Yet recently declassified Soviet documents offer new insights into the motivations for the invasion and necessitate the review of existing historic accounts of the Russo-Afghan War. Utilizing declassified Politburo memos, secret Soviet letters and telegrams, and news reports, this essay sheds light on the heated debate amongst the Soviet intelligentsia over its Afghanistan policy and questions the Western interpretations and responses to the invasion.

First Page

113

Last Page

131

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Sallee, Kyle (2018) "Aggression or Desperation: Reevaluating the Soviet Motivations for Invading Afghanistan," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 8: Iss. 2, Article 8.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2018.080208
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol8/iss2/8