A former Australian army officer says it’d be better to process visas for Afghan nationals, before evacuating them.

A New Zealand C130 Hercules has left Auckland to evacuate Kiwis and civilians who supported our Defence Force.

The Government’s looking at processing visas in third countries.

Rodger Shanahan says they could then realise the person isn't eligible to continue on.

He says you'd then have to take them back to Afghanistan or leave them in the third country.

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