Afghanistan will need up to $20 billion over the next decade to cover the cost of its reconstruction, according to an unpublished preliminary estimate by the World Bank.
The World Bank also estimates that over the next 2 1/2 years, Afghanistan will need between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion to tide it over until a full-scale administration is set up, international financial sources said Wednesday.
It was revealed in late December that the World Bank tentatively estimated that post-Taliban Afghanistan would need $9 billion over the next five years to rebuild itself. Cost estimates for shorter and longer terms have not yet been made public.