160 Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 9 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2391-8.ch009 ABSTRACT After 9/11, the upsurge of the Internet and intensifcation of mass media has provided Afghans with access to a global information highway of new perspectives, narratives, ideas, and images. Global connectivity has likewise brought with it cultural challenges over meaning. Within these digital spaces, the politics of ideological warfare ensue for the battle of representation and signifcation, which are inevitably interlinked to questions of power and powerlessness. Within this digital space of ideological contestation, I explore the power of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project and its ability to empower women to bear witness and share their geographies of pain. Moreover, I demonstrate how AWWP operates as a social media democratizing campaign meticulously employing Western feminist rhetoric to shape Afghan cultural and social systems and subvert opposing Islamic forces that attempt to undermine protections against women and principles of free market democracy. INTRODUCTION In her poem “Letter to an Orphan,” Sharifa (2015) writes, “Dear Orphan, / I know you lost your father and mother / To war, to suicide attacks / And bomb blasts. / I know you wish / it had been you who died / Instead of them” (AWWP, Workshop 108). Sharifa, like many other women of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project shares her history of suffering and loss while at the same time gathering strength and courage with other women in her community and with a larger collective of global The Digital Politics of Pain: Exploring Female Voices in Afghanistan Mary Louisa Cappelli Globalmother.org, USA