Pakistan's defense minister says the U.S. has accused Pakistan's
intelligence agency of sharing information with militants in the
country's tribal region.
Ahmed Mukhtar said U.S. President
George Bush told Pakistani officials that Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) agency was giving militants information on possible
U.S. attacks before they occurred.
Mukhtar told Pakistan's GEO
television network Thursday that Mr. Bush made the remarks during this
week's meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the
White House. Mukhtar was at the meeting and said President Bush also
asked the Pakistani delegation who was controlling the ISI.
Wednesday,
the New York Times newspaper reported the deputy director of the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency, Stephen Kappes, secretly traveled to
Pakistan earlier this month to present evidence tying the ISI to
Taliban commander Jalauddin Haqqani.
Major-General Athar Abbas, a Pakistani army spokesman, said the newspaper's allegations were baseless.
Prime
Minister Gilani also denied the report, telling U.S. television network PBS Tuesday that claimed links between militants and the ISI are "not
believable."
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
