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Afghan President Hamid Karzai says Pakistan is training militants and sending them into Afghanistan, but he says Pakistan should realize it no longer has the power to control events in Afghanistan.

Mr. Karzai was speaking Thursday to tribal elders and officials in the eastern province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan.

The Afghan Islamic Press news agency quotes Mr. Karzai as saying Pakistani intelligence gives military training to people and then sends them to Afghanistan with logistics. Mr. Karzai also said Pakistan must realize that the influence it used to have over Kabul is a thing of the past.

Pakistan, which is battling Taleban and al Qaida-linked militants on its side of the border, has repeatedly denied that it helps the Taleban. On Thursday again, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman rejected Mr. Karzai's remarks as "false and baseless" and said Pakistan wants to see a stable Afghanistan.

But a senior U.S. security official said recently that Pakistan is not doing enough in the war on terrorism, and that militant sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border have to be dealt with.

Mr. Karzai also described fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar as a coward who is hiding in Pakistan and sending youths to kill Afghans.

The Afghan president also accused madrassas - Islamic schools in Pakistan of urging students to go to Afghanistan to burn schools and clinics.