When the Taliban emerged in the mid-1990s, Karzai initially recognized them as a legitimate government because he thought that they would stop the violence and corruption in his country. He was requested by the Taliban to serve as their ambassador but he refused, telling friends that he felt Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was wrongly using them. Karzai then wanted to represent the Taliban government for the UN, but the Taliban leader did not trust Karzai due to him having many links with westerners. He lived in the Pakistani city of Quetta among the Afghan refugees, where he worked to reinstate former Afghan King Zahir Shah, meeting the King in Italy several times. He also visited the western embassies including the U.S. embassy in Islamabad several times, talking with Norbert Holl, and attempted to gain American support for "modern, educated Afghans" to weaken the Taliban's views. Karzai's father was reportedly annoyed with him for not having clear-cut choices, wanting to be friends with everyone.