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But what was the connection between India and Afghanistan for those Wheeled Carriers to end up there?
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The answer is that the Afghan Government incorporated at least one company in Kabul to acquire and purchase quantities of Chevrolet trucks as British Military Intelligence revealed that they had done each year until 1939, and then apparently Fords in 1940. The reason for the constant acquisition was that the trucks just wore out so quickly and had to be replaced for cash after a few years at most. The formation of a company to ostensibly purchase and assemble locally was meant to make the replacement of trucks easier but a more sinister purpose was attributed by M.I...after all if you can import and assemble more trucks then they can provide an enhanced military capability.
The British Government were very concerned at the situation and tried to get the Indian Government to pressure the local GM and Ford companies to stop supplies. The GM India vehicles were supplied from the USA and paid for in NYC through the Afghan Purchasing Commission, and GM were very loathe to stop the supply of vehicles that had been paid for. Don't forget that this was pre-DA of course.
The papers show that there was concern in London that the assembly depots were having capacity taken up with these Afghan orders when they should be flat-out with military orders for the Indian Government. At this juncture I should explain that so far as GM India were concerned they were a subsidiary of GM Corporation in NYC and were effectively directed that they were to import, assemble and then deliver to a foreign country hundreds of trucks which had been paid for direct and not through Bombay. On top of that the Indian Government were clamouring for the assembly of CANADIAN military vehicles supplied of course by GM of Canada. My point here is that NYC acted as a clearing house for all payments between GM subsidiaries and payments were in US$. Although Delhi may have been using every trick to pressure GM India, on the ground they reported to NYC and I am sure that there was no question as to which contracts were given priority!
In the end the papers show that the British purchased Afghan order trucks from GM Bombay and promised the Aghan Government to pay money in lieu or provide vehicles in lieu in due course.
I am taking a degree of licence here and saying that Ford took even more of a hard line, especially as Ford of Canada was a) a partially owned subsidiary of Ford US, and b) was the parent of Ford India.
My submission is that because of the concern at German involvement* in Afghanistan the British were very concerned at the use to which these Indian-assembled vehicles was to be put. When the involvement subsided, British concerns faded and British-Afghan relations relaxed so that GM and Ford in Bombay were allowed with British sanction to supply military vehicles on lieu of those seized in 1941 that had been paid for of course, and that this included CMP-based vehicles. It would be interesting to see whether supply of ex-Indian vehicles continued post-war.
* I understand that the Abwehr had at least two offices in Kabul, though I would imagine that after Operation Barabarossa and the invasion of the Soviet Union, pressure from Moscow would have resulted in German agents being removed.