The Taliban were doing quite badly at first. There are also suggestions that Pakistani authorities have pressed students to fight for the Taliban. One relief worker who visited the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul in late June said that all of its 400 beds were filled by Pakistanis wounded at the front, some as young as 15. Several patients said that they had been sent to fight by their religious academies, many of which closed for the summer battle season, leaving impoverished students with no place else to go. A doctor at the hospital said Chechens, Yemenis and Saudis were among the patients.
American officials say they have little leverage over Pakistan.
The United States cut off military aid in 1990 after the Pakistanis detonated a nuclear bomb. With no ally in the region to help, the Clinton administration has mounted a wide-ranging diplomatic campaign to isolate the Taliban militia from the world community. In its dealing with the Taliban, officials said, the administration promised only that relations would dramatically improve if they expelled Mr. bin Laden and Al Qaeda's leaders and barred foreigners from the camps. Officials said they decided against directly offering recognition, because, they said, the administration had profound reservations about the Taliban's abuses of human rights, particularly of women. Senior officials also felt that they could not trust the Taliban to deliver on their promises, citing what they called repeated ''lies'' from the Afghan leadership about Mr. bin Laden's status.