When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the United States was in the middle of a war of words with Afghanistans neighbor Iran. The U.S. government along with many other countries supported the rebels in an attempt to remove the influence of the U.S.S.R. from this region. The conflict escalated tensions in the Cold War until reformer Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the Soviet government in 1985. Featured stories include: