A video of a 72-year-old U.S. government contractor held hostage by al Qaeda for the last two years has been released, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Warren Weinstein of Rockville, Maryland, said he felt "totally abandoned and forgotten," and urged the U.S. and President Barack Obama to work out an agreement with his captors.
"You are now in your second term as president of the United States and that means you can take hard decisions without worrying about reelection," said Weinstein, who looked pale and tired in the video, The Post reported.
Weinstein pleaded with the Obama administration to release al Qaeda militants in U.S. custody, a demand al Qaeda has made several times before.
The video was anonymously emailed to journalists who have reported in Afghanistan. In addition to the video was a link to a note, reportedly handwritten by Weinstein, labeled "Letter to media," and dated Oct. 3, The Post reported.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said they're in the process of authenticating Weinstein's message.
"We reiterate our call that Warren Weinstein be released and returned to his family," Harf said in a statement to The Post. "Particularly during this holiday season- another one away from his family- our hopes and prayers are with him and those who love and miss him."
Weinstein was abducted from his home in Lahore, Pakistan in August 2011, the New York Daily News reported. Weinstein was the Pakistan directory for J.E. Austin Associates, a U.S. company that gives advice to the Pakistani government and businesses.
"Nine years ago I came to Pakistan to help my government and I did so at a time when most Americans would not come here," Weinstein said, according to the Daily News. "And now when I need my government it seems I've been totally abandoned and forgotten."
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a 2011 statement Weinstein would be released if the U.S. government terminated all air strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yeman and Somalia, The Washington Post reported. The U.S. usually does not negotiate with kidnappers as a matter of policy.
"If anyone in the Obama government can understand my predicament it is yourself," Weinstein said, "I hope that one day soon I will be able to meet you as a free man and than you for your efforts."
Watch Weinstein's video here.
