Another 650 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan by Australia and New Zealand overnight.

A mix of Australian citizens, Afghan visa holders and New Zealanders have been rescued from Kabul.

Veterans Affairs Minister Andrew Gee said the list of Australians needing assistance is growing by the day.

“There are a lot of people who hadn’t registered with us, and we didn’t know they were there,” he told Gareth Parker.

“The original list was we were going to get a few hundred people out, but we have already got 1300 out, so it is an expanding list.”

He said while it is particularly difficult for veterans to see the country in such peril, the last 20 years were not a waste of time.

“The mission there was to stamp out terrorism and that’s what they did successfully for 20 years,” he said.

“We will never know how many international terrorist attacks were stopped because our men and women went in there with our allies, and stamped out Al-Qaeda and made that country a better place for 20 years.”

Press PLAY to hear more about the governments efforts to rescue Australians from Afghanistan 

Veterans struggling with the developments in Afghanistan can call Open Arms on 1800 011 046.

Open Arms provides 24-hour free and confidential counselling and support for current and former ADF members and their families.