Recently on my radio program, I told the story of Charles Napier to illustrate a principle about ethics. Many of my guests had never heard the story. It bears repeating since it also has application to a recent news story.

General Charles Napier was the British commander in colonial India. He is perhaps best known for his response to Hindu priests. They came to him complaining about the British prohibition against Sati. That is the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. Some threw themselves on the burning wood willingly. Many were forced to do so.

William Napier the brother of Charles Napier recorded his response to these Hindu priests. “This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.”

Charles Napier didn’t play around. He merely said that if you throw a widow onto a funeral pyre, we will hang you. Don’t tell me your culture permits this. It is wrong.

I thought about this the other day when reading about our country’s willingness to prosecute a member of special forces because he stopped an Afghan commander from sexually abusing a boy who was chained to his bed as a sex slave. Actually, he did more than stop him. He beat the daylights out of him.

The U.S. military apparently ordered soldiers to turn a blind eye to this aspect of Afghan “culture.” Let’s be clear. Child sexual abuse is not “culture.” What the military needs these days is another Charles Napier who is willing to end this Afghan custom.