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ISLAMABAD - Elderly US development worker Warren Weinstein hasappeared in an Al-Qaeda video for the first time since he waskidnapped in Pakistan just days before he meant to return home lastAugust. The two minute, 40 second video was posted on jihadist forums byAl-Qaeda's media arm as-Sahab on Sunday, according to the USmonitoring service SITE. There is no indication of when the videowas made and Weinstein appears alone before the camera. Dressed in a traditional Pakistani tunic and speaking impassivelyin English, he urges US President Barack Obama to respond to hiskidnappers' demands. He also tells his wife Elaine that "I'm fine, I'm well, I'm gettingall my medications, I'm being taken care of". There was no response from the US embassy in Islamabad. Pakistanisecurity officials said they were not immediately aware of thevideo but believe Weinstein is being held by Al-Qaeda and localTaliban near the Afghan border. Weinstein, who turns 71 this year, suffers from asthma, heartproblems and high blood pressure. "If you accept the demands, I live; if you don't accept thedemands, then I die," Weinstein told Obama in the video, sittingbehind a table with books and food on it. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in December claimed that thegroup was holding Weinstein, but at the time provided no proof. Zawahiri demanded that Washington end air strikes in Afghanistan,Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and release the 1993 World TradeCentre bombers along with relatives of Osama bin Laden. Pakistan last month deported bin Laden's widows and children toSaudi Arabia, a year after they were detained following the UScommando operation that found and killed the Al-Qaeda founder inAbbottabad. Weinstein was snatched after gunmen tricked their way into hisLahore home on August 13, just days before he was due to return tothe United States after seven years in Pakistan. He was country director for US-based consultancy J.E. AustinAssociates, which does contracting work with the US government'sdevelopment agency, USAID. Pakistani security officials believe Weinstein is being held inPakistan's lawless northwestern tribal belt, probably close toNorth Waziristan, which is the focus of US drone strikes targetingAl-Qaeda and the Taliban. Informants have suggested he is moved regularly to avoid detection. "He is with Al-Qaeda and local Taliban, but we are unaware abouthis exact location," one security official told AFP on condition ofanonymity. Weinstein's kidnapping started a wave of abductions of foreign aidworkers in Pakistan. On April 29, British aid worker Khalil Dale was found beheaded inthe southwestern city of Quetta, with a note from his captorssaying he had been killed because their demands were not met. He was snatched on January 5. Three other foreign aid anddevelopment workers remain in captivity: a German, an Italian and aKenyan. A Swiss couple snatched in southwest Pakistan in July last yearwere held for nine months before claiming to have escaped in March,but the nature of their liberation is clouded in mystery. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Cold Drawn Steel Wire Manufacturer , Copperize Tire Bead Wire, and more. For more , please visit Steel Bead Wire today!
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