Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) was money for military commanders to use for conducting rebuilding and reconstruction during the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Wars.

The program

It was initially money seized during the invasion of Iraq, but later was also U.S. Federally appropriated funds. The military must use the money for the benefit of the Iraqi or Afghan people, such as public roads, schools and medical clinics or

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

. The funds for CERP came from the Department of Defense. The use of funds in the field can be authorized by military commanders at the brigade level. The rules governing the use of such funds will be based on any Congressional restrictions in the legislation, and will be tailored to the needs of the particular operation. For the United States military, the use of money through CERP was considered an effective

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

weapon. By January 2011, the United States Military spent $2 billion on 16,000 projects in Afghanistan over 6 years using CERP to assist the people. The projects ranged in size from renovating schools, building wells to much larger public works and infrastructure reconstruction.Huvane, Dan
"High school reopens in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province"
Gosport section (volume 70, number 14) published by the '' Pensacola News Journal'', Pensacola, Florida, April 7, 2006, page 10.

References

{{reflist Civil affairs of the United States military Counterinsurgency Humanitarian aid Military economics Economic history of the Iraq War War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) United States foreign aid United States military policies