Ahmed Mukhtar (file photo)

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.