Identification and Analysis of Sources. A state of geopolitical tension between superpowers, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and United States (US), in the years of 1947-1991, became better known as the Cold War. As there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, the term “cold” is used because but both powers supported major regional wars known as proxy wars. Some of these proxy wars have had far-reaching impacts on modern politics and issues. On such example is the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan and the US support of the Mujahadeen rebel forces. The USSR’s intention for actually invading Afghanistan is widely debated, and for that reason this essay will aim to explore the question:To what extent was USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan caused by recent US victories in the Middle East?Of particular importance in exploring this question is the source, “Does the USSR Have a ‘Grand Strategy’? Reinterpreting the Invasion of Afghanistan.”. The Journal of Peace Research is a highly regarded journal that publishes scholarly work in peace research. It focuses on the methods of conflict resolution, causes of violence, and ways of sustaining peace. This article was published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987, by David Gibbs. This article’s purpose was to examine the reasons behind Soviet intervention in third-world countries during the Cold War. It did this by first discussing recent theories of Soviet strategy, including those which had stark differences. For instance it analyzed both the theory of the USSR having a grand strategy of expansion in the Third World, as well as more conservative theories like that of George F. Kennan, the US Ambassador to the USSR during the Cold War. This was incredibly valuable to me because it tested the aforementioned theories, using the Soviet Union’s December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan as the case study. The essay describes both Afghanistan’s internal politics and foreign policy from the 1700s until now. This means that I was able to obtain a significant amount of depth of information from this source regarding the reasons for USSR intervention in Afghanistan. A limitation of the source was that the analysis and evidence in the journal relies primarily on US government documents. This is a limitation because in order to develop a complete understanding of the topic and to fully explore the question, I need to consider sources from both the US and the USSR.