Reuters – ISLAMABAD — A U.S. development worker kidnapped in Pakistan by al-Qaida two years ago appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene and help negotiate his release, in a video released on Thursday.
“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 could not be independently verified.
Weinstein was abducted in 2011 in the eastern city of Lahore where he worked for a U.S. consulting company.
Pakistan’s tribal areas on its border with Afghanistan serve as safe havens for al-Qaida, 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.