The future of Paul Wolfowitz, the embattled President of the World Bank, was in further jeopardy last night after it emerged that the White House was drawing up a list of candidates to succeed him.

Most prominent on th list is Ashraf Ghani, the man credited with overhauling the economy of Afghanistan after September 11, The Times has learnt. Such an appointment would mark the first time a non-American has held the position in the 60-year history of the global lender.

Senior officials in the US Administration have noted that the White House is softening the tone of its support for President Bush's former Deputy Defence Secretary. They pointed yesterday to the silence of the Treasury Department and Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, as an indication of the Administration’s attempt to distance itself from the man it parachuted into the job in 2005. Mr Wolfowitz appeared yesterday before a meeting of 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.

Publicly, the Administration continued to give him support yesterday. Dana Perino, Mr Bush’s spokeswoman, said that the board should be allowed to complete its inquiry. “As we’ve said before, the President has confidence in Paul Wolfowitz,” she said.

However, the multilateral lender increasingly appears paralysed by the allegations of scandal. This week Graeme Wheeler, one of Mr Wolfowitz’s two deputies, called for him to resign.

Mr Wolfowitz, who has said that he made a mistake and has apologised, repeated to officials yesterday that he had no intention of stepping down.

Mr Ghani would be a bold choice to head the World Bank, where he worked as a special adviser between 1991 and 2002. After the overthrow of the Taliban by the US-led coalition, he was the Afghan Finance Minister for two years, carrying out extensive reforms, including issuing a new currency, balancing the budget and overhauling the treasury’s systems.

Working at present as Chancellor of Kabul University, he was a candidate to replace Kofi Annan as Secretary-General of the United Nations last year but lost out to Ban Ki Moon, of South Korea.

Mr Ghani was described then as someone with a strong record as an administrator but who had a reputation for impatience. As well as the first non-American chief of the World Bank, he would also be the first Muslim in the job.

The appointment of Mr Ghani would mark another volte-face for Mr Bush, whose authority has shrunk since mid-term elections in November, which swept the Democrats to control of both houses of Congress. Since then Mr Bush has dismissed Donald Rumsfeld, his Defence Secretary, lost the confirmation fight to install John Bolton as Ambassador to the UN and is now defending Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney-General, from congressional calls for his resignation.

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