This report seeks to provide a historical, legal and political context to legal aid reforms that have taken place over the last five years in Afghanistan. It also critiques the top-down approaches that have been used in these reforms and the legal aid board’s lack of independence that have led to significant controversy within the legal aid community. The report draws on existing literature and extensive interviews with Afghan legal aid providers, representatives of the Legal Aid Department in the Ministry of Justice, former and current foreign technical advisors and foreign donors that are involved in the field of legal aid.