WASHINGTON, Nov 8: The World Bank, looking at a post-Taliban scenario for Afghanistan, believes that reconstruction funding should be channelled through a trust fund, a mechanism that it feels would ensure effective determination of utilization priorities.

This view is advanced in an ‘approach paper’ released by the bank on Wednesday in advance of a three-day conference, ‘Preparing for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction’, due to begin in Islamabad on Nov 27. The conference is co-sponsored by the bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Asia Bank.

Mr William Byrd, the bank’s acting country manager for Afghanistan, says the conference will endeavour to build on the operational experience of various NGOs and other aid agencies that have been working in Afghanistan.

The cost of the reconstruction effort is expected to be high, although it will be premature to put a price tag on it at the moment.

The objective of the reconstruction effort will not be confined to returning Afghanistan to the situation that existed before the country slipped into chaos in the 1970s, but to provide for long-term economic and social development.

The approach paper says that once a post-conflict government is in sight, reconstruction funding will be “most sensibly” directed through a trust fund.