President Hamid Karzai: Abdullah Abdullah

Amrullah Saleh Dept: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister who ran unsuccessfully in 2009 against President Hamid Karzai, and Amrullah Saleh, who was head of the country's notorious intelligence service, were both among the scheduled speakers at the conference, according to Vancouver Sun. The journey would be perilous especially for Saleh, who as a former intelligence chief is prized target for Taliban militants in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and oTTAWA - Some of Afghanistan's leading political and government officials have pulled out of a major university conference in Ottawa after getting the bureaucratic runaround from Canadian consular authorities. Both men and their staff were told that in order to get a visa to travel to Canada, they'd be required to visit the embassy in neighbouring Islamabad, Pakistan, because the diplomatic post in Kabul does not issue such travel clearance except in special circumstances. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.