WASHINGTON — A 73-year-old American hostage killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan was an international development worker whose family described him as passionate about helping people out of poverty.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Warren Weinstein was accidentally killed in January, when the U.S. targeted an al-Qaeda compound where Weinstein was held hostage. Weinstein’s family was notified of his death Wednesday.
In a statement Thursday, Weinstein’s wife, Elaine Weinstein, said the family is devastated.
“We were so hopeful that those in the U.S. and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so, and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through,” she said.
“But those who took Warren captive over three years ago bear ultimate responsibility,” she said. “I can assure you that he would still be alive and well if they had allowed him to return home after his time abroad working to help the people of Pakistan.”
Warren Weinstein, of Rockville, Md., was a business development expert working in Pakistan on a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He lived in Pakistan from 2004 until he was kidnapped in 2011. He was abducted four days before the end of his seven-year assignment.
Weinstein was “focused on helping Pakistani families escape poverty and have a better life for their children,” Obama said at the White House.
Weinstein was working as the country director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates, an Arlington, Va.-based firm advising Pakistani businesses and government on economic development.
While working in the country, Weinstein wore traditional Pakistani garments and spoke Urdu. He was very devoted to the region and its people for much of his career.
Weinstein appeared in a video in 2013, appealing to Obama to negotiate his release. He said he felt “totally abandoned and forgotten.” It was impossible to tell whether the statement was scripted by his captors.
