President Bush as repeatedly affirmed his support for Paul Wolfowitz, the embattled World Bank President, but behind the scenes, White House staff is drawing up a list of possible replacements.
Wolfowitz cancelled formal appearences on Thursday to meet behind closed-doors with the World Bank’s 24-nation board, which is investigating whether he broke any rules in arranging a high-paying job at the US State Department for his partner, Shaha Riza, in 2005. Graeme Wheeler, one of Mr Wolfowitz’s two deputies, has already called for him to resign.
Who’s on Bush’s short list for replacement? Most prominent is Ashraf Ghani, who directed the overhauling the Afghanistan’s economy after September 11, The Times reports. “Such an appointment would mark the first time a non-American has held the position in the 60-year history of the global lender”.

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