Toyotas began to appear en masse among the Taliban in the early to mid-1990s. Journalists noticed this fact in 1996, when during the capture of the Afghan capital, Kabul, militants could be seen in photos that went around the world on hundreds, if not thousands, of Japanese cars – Hilux pickups and Land Cruiser SUVs.
As a journalistic investigation showed, at that time cars for the Taliban were delivered smuggled through Pakistan. In particular, The New York Times exposed a $1 billion fraud involving corrupt Pakistani importers. The latter purchased large batches (several thousand units each) of Toyota cars in the UAE and Kuwait, but on the way the cars allegedly got into accidents and were written off. However, in reality they ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
Of course, this was a profitable business for both sides – the Pakistanis got "easy money", and in considerable amounts, and the radical Islamists got some of the most reliable cars in the world.
Probably, similar "black" schemes are used to this day. That is why, by the way, Toyota banned the resale of new Land Cruiser 300 to third parties within a year from the moment of purchase (to avoid reputational losses).
