The Toyota Taliban

Joe Katzman finds this quote on the origins of the term “Toyota Taliban” at UN Insider;

In a letter from Kabul, British satirical biweekly Private Eye reported on the private life of international community members in the Afghan capital. It claims that only 16% of the $4.5 billion pledged at the Tokyo conference goes to the government; the rest in the hands of NGO; a term used to refer to “the well heeled” international staff of the U.N. and aid organizations who reportedly spend time shopping for wide screen tvs and laptops at a new Sony Centre. “Most other shopkeepers only ever glimpse them as they are driven past in one of the $75,000 Toyota Landcruisers most of them owned by the U.N. — known here as the Toyota Taliban,” the letter says, adding that the cruisers ferried them from office to restaurant to guest house. It continues: “There’s a swimming pool at a central U.N. compound and regular parties and barbecues. Memories of a party held by the DHL courier group last November, when an opium pipe was passed around by U.N. staff, are still fresh. If boredom strikes, aid workers might also sign up for Tai Chi and Argentinean tango lessons.”

In the Congo, UN tastes lean more towards Pimp My Ride;

the international operation in Bunia, home to about 16,000 refugees, threatens to become another monument to U.N. paralysis and failure. Investigators describe a “significant, widespread and ongoing” pattern of abuse at the camp–an astonishing conclusion given that many women are afraid to report sexual violence against them. At least one senior official in charge of security in Bunia is implicated in the scandal, and U.N. peacekeepers allegedly have threatened investigators with retaliation. According to the Economist, a U.N. probe is even considering the possibility that MONUC has been infiltrated by “organized pedophiles who recruit their friends.”

But neither have the panache of Kofi Annan – who eschews reality based transportation in favour of his own private Fantasyland ride.