The government was in contact with the family of US aid worker Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2011, and transferred money to the militant group holding him captive, people familiar with the negotiations revealed.
According to an article published by the Foreign Policy, the development has raised questions regarding the Pakistani government’s ability to release Warren Weinstein or capture his captives while relaying money to them.
Two people familiar with the exchange of money for Weinstein’s release said his family paid several hundred thousand dollars in 2012 to the militants to what became a multiyear, behind-the-scenes effort to ensure his safe return to the United States.
“The family was in touch with people who, they have reason to believe, had contact with, or control over, Warren until very recently,” one of the people said. “Because of that they believed he would come home.”
One of them said the payment was “coordinated” with Islamabad. The two added that the actual money was passed to the group holding Weinstein through a Pakistani intermediary with close links to the group.
According to the sources, the intermediary promised to deliver Weinstein after the money was received, but failed to do so. However, hopeful he would return, Weinstein’s family maintained regular contact with the government and captors.
The second person added the intermediary who transferred the initial sum of money to the group received information from Weinstein’s captors that he was alive until earlier this month.
American national Warren Weinstein who had been held hostage by al Qaeda in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan after being kidnapped from Lahore in 2011 was killed in a US counter-terrorism operation in January.
