Afghanistan’s Bayat Foundation has renovated and repainted the children’s ward at the Herat Regional Hospital, which had been in need of repair.

Local officials and hospital staff welcomed Bayat Foundation’s assistance and urged other organizations to help the hospital with much needed medical equipment.

The Bayat Foundation is dedicated to the health, education and well-being of the people of Afghanistan, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, marital status or religion.

The foundation provides programs and partnerships offering quality healthcare for women and newborns, increased access to education through new or refurbished schools, economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, social justice, strengthened families, competitive sporting events and cultural preservation.

Sayed Noor Ahmad Shah, a representative of Bayat Foundation in the western zone, addressed a ceremony to reopen the ward, and spoke on the foundation’s charitable work throughout Afghanistan.

He told how the foundation had provided life-saving help to Herat earthquake victims, and how it assisted with activating a telecommunications site installed by Afghanistan Wireless Communication Company.

“Similarly, in other provinces, people have been assisted during natural disasters,” he said.

Local officials meanwhile said at the ceremony that the number of patients visiting the hospital had increased considerably and that the renovated children’s ward would help ease some problems.

"A world of thanks to the Bayat Foundation for cooperating in this area and partially solving the problems of our compatriots' children," said Hayatullah Muhajir Farahi, acting deputy governor of Herat province.

Medical staff pointed out that not only did other wards need to be renovated but the hospital needed to be expanded due to the high number of patients.

The children's ward of the hospital treats on average 800 patients daily.

"Based on the agreement that was reached, the Bayat Foundation temporarily made the dormitory of the Herat Institute of Health Sciences available to the children's hospital and painted and repaired several rooms so that it could reduce heavy loads from other wards," said Ghulam Ahmad Hanafi, deputy director of Herat's public health department.

Mirwais Abedi, head of the children’s ward at the hospital said: “According to the assessment we conducted in this part of the dormitory, it has a capacity of about 50 patients. If we can accommodate two children in each room, Allah willing, it can temporarily solve the problems of our patients until we have a complex hospital for this zone, because Herat is a border city and we have patients from adjacent provinces such as Farah, Ghor, Nimroz and Qala-e-Naw.”

Bayat Foundation has always provided necessary assistance in various fields, especially humanitarian aid in the western zone of the country. People in this zone want such assistance to continue.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said on Sunday that tensions between Pakistan’s government and the opposition have reached a worrying level and could have a negative impact on the entire region.

In a statement on X, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the best way to meet the "legitimate demands of the people" was to hold negotiations.

He noted that recent events have proven that refusing to negotiate complicates the issue.

Balkhi said the Islamic Emirate was closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan, hoping that the Pakistani government and its influential institutions would behave reasonably and realistically in the face of growing discontent.

Supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan have rallied in Islamabad to push for Khan’s release as the police blocked roads, cut off mobile internet and fired tear gas to deter the protesters.  Dozens of police personnel have been injured in clashes with protestors.

Afghanistan has seen a record high number of international flights passing through its airspace in the past week, amid escalating tension in West Asia.

The spike came after Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel last week, which led to flights diverting and flying over Afghanistan. 

According to The Independent, a record 191 flights passed over Afghanistan, each one paying the Islamic Emirate $700 for the privilege. 

The Independent reported that these flights included British Airways, Lufthansa, and Swiss Air planes.

FlightRadar24 recorded an average of 147 flights per day through Afghan airspace between 19 and 30 September, not including journeys that started or finished in Afghanistan itself.

The number went up to 171 on Tuesday when Iran launched 180 missiles against Israel. And on Thursday and Friday, this number went up to 191, The Independent reported.

Speaking to the publication, FlightRadar24’s spokesperson Ian Petchenik said, "We’re seeing aircraft that would normally transit through Iran make use of Afghanistan airspace now."

"As we start to see more and more airspace restrictions (in West Asia), airlines are making a trade-off or a calculated decision on risk – is this a safe method of operation? And is it safer than the alternative that still allows us to operate these flights?” Petchenik added.

The Afghan airspace has been largely avoided by international flights since the Islamic Emirate regained power in August 2021.

But the number of flights has steadily gone up since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 last year and the escalating conflict in parts of Middle East and West Asia.

Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson from FlightRadar24 said that international flights diverted “anywhere they could,” and a snapshot of traffic in the region showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.

On Tuesday, about 80 flights, operated by the likes of Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways and bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, were diverted to places such as Cairo and European cities, its data showed.