Does anybody have any resources or maybe learned insight about what exactly the USSR was doing in Afghanistan prior to the Saur Revolution? I know both the U.S. and USSR were involved in the Republic of Afghanistan, but I have very weak knowledge of the situation and I can't find any non-western-biased sources not depicting the U.S. involvement as wholly good and the USSR involvement as wholly bad.

Usually people correctly justify the Soviet "invasion" as a response to Operation Cyclone, but the Soviets had a presence there predating even that. I'm hoping somebody here has criticism or corrections for me that don't just repeat the Western anti-communist perspective.