Joe Cunningham is a conservative commentator, Front Page Editor at RedState.com, contributor to The Hayride, and a teacher in south Louisiana. You can find him on Twitter at @JoePCunningham and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jcunninghamwrites.

There is a story that came out from the New York Times last week that discusses child rape in Afghanistan. That story details how American troops are being told it ignore Afghan soldiers and commanders who are raping little boys as a means of control or discipline. One solider described a commander who had a boy chained to his bed to be used as a sex slave.

This is being permitted on American military bases, even.

This is being permitted because, according to top political appointees in the military and their subordinates, we should not interfere with the Afghan culture. This political correctness calls for us to overlook a horrific crime that is forever going to affect the boys who are abused. They will grow up and continue the violence toward children in that society.

Not only could this be, in a very real sense, a war crime under the U.S. military code, but it is a sign that the U.S. is taking a backseat in fighting the true evils of the world. The Army has dismissed one soldier who beat an Afghan officer for what he was doing, and is actively trying to forcibly retire another. If the Army cannot stand for American values, why should the world take the U.S. and its military seriously?

This sets a dangerous precedent in the world, and one that we may absolutely come to regret if we allow it to continue. We are allowing the continuation of an immoral and evil practice that will keep a violent and dangerous culture (sorry, PC brigade!) violent and dangerous for generations.

The U.S. Army should stand against this, prevent it from happening on its own bases, and work to train the Afghan forces out of the practice. If our job is to be leader in the world, and it should be clear by now that we are supposed to be but haven’t been, then we need to work diligently to eradicate these and other morally bankrupt practices.