WASHINGTON, Sept 28: One of the biggest challenges in rebuilding Afghanistan after decades of turmoil is keeping the country running on a daily basis, even when its concerns drop out of the headlines, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said on Thursday.

The bank is hosting a one-day conference to bring together Afghan representatives and nearly 60 major donor countries to discuss the progress made since the last major meeting earlier this year in Tokyo.

The meeting will also evaluate what more needs to be done.

Getting more aid for Afghanistan might not be easy. The world economy is looking far from bright, there are fears of another US recession, and the Japanese and European economies remain in the doldrums.

With their coffers already strained, it will be difficult at best to convince donor nations they need to increase their commitment to Afghanistan.

In January, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United States, the European Union, Japan and several other major contributors pledged about 4.5 billion dollars for Afghanistan over the next five years.

Of that, 1.8 billion dollars was for the current year. The amount was later raised to two billion dollars.

However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell cautioned in his opening statement that 4.5 billion dollars may actually not be enough.

The administration of Hamid Karzai is running a 150 million dollars deficit just to keep up with administrative costs, and the Bush government projects that between now and March next year, its cash shortfall will balloon to 165 million dollars.

“Donors think that should come from tax revenues, but how a country like Afghanistan does that now,” Wolfensohn wondered.

His views were echoed by US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. “Until the Afghan economy is producing tax revenues sufficient for basic government operations there, and until the transitional Islamic state of Afghanistan has the strength to collect those revenues nationwide, they are dependent on our timely funds for their essential needs,” said O’Neill in his opening statement at the beginning of the conference.

“Without credit or reserves, the Afghan government is living month-to-month, in clear sight of chaos, competing with warlords and terrorists for sway.”

Powell said that while donors had provided financing for more than 80 infrastructure projects over the past eight months, and also given money to rebuild schools and hospitals, the key to keeping Afghanistan’s recovery on track is to ensure that such projects continued to grow steadily.