Abducted by al Qaeda in Pakistan, Warren Weinstein urges Obama for help

"Now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten," said Weinstein. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: A US development worker kidnapped in Pakistan by al Qaeda two years ago appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene and help negotiate his release, in a video released on Thursday.

In a 13-minute clip issued by al Qaeda’s media wing and posted on several news websites, a 72 year-old and bearded Warren Weinstein looked gaunt and tired. Weinstein is wearing a gray tracksuit and black beanie hat against a dark background.

“I am not in good health. I have a heart condition. I suffer from acute asthma… Needless to say I’ve been suffering deep anxiety every part of every day,” he said.

“Mr President, for the majority of my adult life, for over 30 years I’ve served my country … Now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten.”

The video, which was sent anonymously by email to several journalists who have reported from Afghanistan, is being verified by the US State Department.

The video was accompanied by a letter, purportedly handwritten by Weinstein but also not authenticated, that was dated October 3.

In the message, Weinstein urges President Barack Obama’s administration to negotiate with the al Qaeda militants who snatched him in Pakistan more than two years ago.

The 72 year-old development expert called on Obama to renew efforts for his release and consider freeing unspecified al Qaeda militants in US custody so that his captors could allow him to receive a family visit.

If confirmed, the video appeal would be the third by Weinstein since he was taken captive in August 2011.

Weinstein was abducted in 2011 in Lahore where he worked for a US consulting company.

He had been working as a consultant for the firm JE Austin Associates Inc, a contractor for the US Agency for International Development.

In his last video statement, released in September 2012, Weinstein appealed to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “as one Jew to another” to help secure his release.

The tribal areas on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan serve as safe havens for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups, and the Islamabad government has been under pressure from the United States to do more to eliminate the insurgency.