The Taliban and Toyota: A Match Made in Third-World Warfare
Last month, we extolled the virtues of a ’90s Toyota 4Runner, calling the third-gen retro SUV, which evolved from the Japanese brand’s Hilux pickup truck, “a tool that won’t quit” with “particular charms suited to gearheads, adventurers and DIY enthusiasts.”
Another group that has unfortunately come to love the reliable Toyota, as well as a number of the company’s other offerings? The Taliban.
The love affair between the Taliban and Toyota goes back to the Islamist organization’s beginnings in the mid-’90s...
But as writer Kyle Mizokami explained in 2013, the use of Toyota vehicles on “Third World battlefields” actually precedes the Taliban.
In fact, the final year of a conflict between Chad and Libya that lasted from 1978 to 1987 was called “The Toyota War” due to the use of Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser pickups by the Chadians; in short, the utilitarian fleet helped the “ragtag force that could never hope to field the same firepower as the Libyans” win out in the end.