Afghanistan

[Horse]

https://qz.com/2047652/toyota-seemed-to ... ake-kabul/

When the Taliban rode into Kabul and captured the presidential palace on Aug. 15, it marked the return to power of one of Toyota’s most loyal—and most regrettable—customers.

For more than a quarter-century, Toyota’s sturdiest pickups and SUVs have been the Taliban’s vehicles of choice. They’re rugged enough for Afghanistan’s terrain, and they have air-conditioning to beat the summer heat. Asim Elhag, an independent Sudanese researcher who studies conflict in Africa, has seen Toyota Land Cruisers retrofitted with anti-aircraft guns. As in troubled regions all over the world—Syria, Iraq, Chad, Mali—the Toyota was indispensable to the Taliban’s ambition to control a population scattered over difficult terrain.

Toyota and the Taliban
The Taliban’s association with the Toyota became iconic.

The first time the Taliban’s fighters stormed the presidential palace, back in 1996, journalists from India Today described how “tanks and ammunition-laden Toyota Hilux trucks raced into Afghanistan’s capital.” The vehicles were “ideal platforms for intimidation and enforcement,” the New York Times wrote in 2001.

“From their Land Cruisers and Hiluxes, the Taliban were ready to leap down and beat women for showing a glimpse of ankle or to lock a man in a shipping container for three weeks until his beard grew to the approved length. Or, most dismal, to drag an accused adulterer or blasphemer to the soccer stadium for execution.”

It wasn’t exactly the kind of association that made Toyota proud. Which makes the company seem prescient today for an odd rule it instituted in late July, in an attempt to prevent its vehicles from being used by sanctioned groups like the Taliban.

Toyota banned the resale of new Land Cruisers
The 2022 model of the Toyota Land Cruiser, the company’s longest-running model, went on sale in Japan on Aug. 2, priced at around $46,500. Anyone buying it, though, has to sign a contract promising not to resell the vehicle within a year, Japanese media outlets reported a few weeks ago. Even dealers might have to pay damages if their customers resell Land Cruisers, the Japanese publication Creative311 found.

In a statement, Toyota confirmed the purpose of this clause. The Land Cruiser, Toyota said, “is particularly popular overseas, and we are concerned about the flow of vehicles from Japan to overseas immediately after their release, as well as the possibility of them being exported to certain regions where security regulations are in place.”

It isn’t just pure altruism driving Toyota’s contractual demands. Selling Toyotas to proscribed groups like rogue governments or terrorist outfits can invite legal penalties. “There is a risk of violating foreign exchange law, and depending on the export destination, it may lead to major problems that threaten global security,” Toyota said in its statement.

Tracking the ways by which these groups acquire Toyotas in the first place isn’t easy. In 2015, for instance, the US state department had to seek Toyota’s help to determine how ISIS was buying new trucks and pickups. Toyota said, at the time, that although its policies prohibited sales to “potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities,” vehicles that were stolen or resold were difficult to trace.

The new Land Cruiser contractual clause might have only the most limited effect on these misappropriations of Toyota’s cars. It is a neatly timed precaution, though. By assuming government, the Taliban will have Afghanistan’s treasury at its disposal once again—a handy fund with which to buy itself some new wheels.

[Yorick]

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[Mussels]

SMILE.jpg

My wife put a discussion program about Afghanistan on last night and it was a bunch of people each with their single issue that was more important than anyone elses, I think I've seen more intelligent discussion on here.

[Cousin Jack]

My wife put a discussion program about Afghanistan on last night and it was a bunch of people each with their single issue that was more important than anyone elses, I think I've seen more intelligent discussion on here.

Of course you have. We is expertz.

[millemille]

People seem to have forgotten that the total number of countries/organisations/alliances that have lost wars is, for some inexplicable reason, by and large equal to the total number of wars there have ever been.

[DefTrap]

Is anyone really expecting ' the answer' on here? Presumably the military strategists that cocked up Afghanistan by relying on cogent advice from MumsNet forums are delighted to have found a new direction from all the senile and incontinent giffers on here who've spared 10 minutes away from daytime telly to tell us what's what.

[Cousin Jack]

The answer is very clear. Don't do wars and you won't 'lose'. Their are no winners in war, it is nasty, dirty and brutal. It should be a very last resort.

This announcement is brought to you by an armchair expert.

[KungFooBob]

The answer is very clear. Don't do wars and you won't 'lose'. Their are no winners in war, it is nasty, dirty and brutal. It should be a very last resort.

This announcement is brought to you by an armchair expert.

If there wasn't any wars there'd be no war films!

No A bridge too far or the battle of the Bulge!

[David]

The answer is very clear. Don't do wars and you won't 'lose'. Their are no winners in war, it is nasty, dirty and brutal. It should be a very last resort.

This announcement is brought to you by an armchair expert.

But please be more specific...is that fabric or leather..recliner/non recliner, swivel or static......?

[MingtheMerciless]

It was never going to end well, Afghanistan never does for an invading force. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I think all we've bought is 20 years of one less place for terrorists to train.

China will be the next lot to get their fingers burnt.

And I suspect most of the US hardware will be FUBAR within 6 months due to lack of spares, maintenance and most importantly trained maintainers.

[wheelnut]

The answer is very clear. Don't do wars and you won't 'lose'. Their are no winners in war, it is nasty, dirty and brutal. It should be a very last resort.

This announcement is brought to you by an armchair expert.

And it shouldn’t escape the notice of those who start wars that history tells us that the starter of the conflict generally ends up losing.

[gremlin]

Toyota: the pick up of choice for both pikeys and Taliban.


Is there a better endorsement?

[KungFooBob]

Toyota: the pick up of choice for both pikeys and Taliban.


Is there a better endorsement?

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

[Horse]

Toyota: the pick up of choice for both pikeys and Taliban.


Is there a better endorsement?

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

See full details post, yesterday or Tuesday.

[gremlin]

Toyota: the pick up of choice for both pikeys and Taliban.


Is there a better endorsement?

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

Idiots.

I'd have set up a dealership in Kabul the day after the Tallbaners moved in.

'Optional extras for sir include air con and dash mount for lady-whipping stick. Also we have mount for 12.7mm recoilless gun...'

[Yorick]

Toyota: the pick up of choice for both pikeys and Taliban.


Is there a better endorsement?

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

Idiots.

I'd have set up a dealership in Kabul the day after the Tallbaners moved in.

Right sir. You've chosen the biggest engine and also the machine gun and assault rifle and rocket launcher package. Wise choice sir. What colour of camouflage paint would sir like ?

[gremlin]

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

Idiots.

I'd have set up a dealership in Kabul the day after the Tallbaners moved in.

Right sir. You've chosen the biggest engine and also the machine gun and assault rifle and rocket launcher package. Wise choice sir. What colour of camouflage paint would sir like ?

'Bullet proof glass as well? Let me speak to my manager...'

'I have AK47 and RPG ..'


'Shouldn't be a problem, sir...'

[MingtheMerciless]

Would Sir like the .50 Cal upgrade?

[JackyJoll]

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

Yeah if only we can make buying one make of pickup slightly inconvenient, World peace shall ensue.

[slowsider]

Toyota are trying to stop it.

If you buy a Landcruiser brand new you have to sign to say you won't re-sell it for a year and they won't sell brand new to the likes of the Taliban.

Yeah if only we can make buying one make of pickup slightly inconvenient, World peace shall ensue.

At least Toyota aren't giving them away:

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 021-08-19/