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In an exclusive joint project with the Christian Science Monitor
, FRONTLINE/WORLD correspondent David Montero ventures into the mountainous Swat Valley where the Pakistani army is fighting Taliban insurgents. Also on the program, correspondent Victoria Gamburg looks at the state of democracy in Russia on the eve of the March 2, 2008, presidential elections.
In an exclusive joint project with the Christian Science
Monitor, FRONTLINE/WORLD correspondent David Montero ventures
into the mountainous Swat Valley where the Pakistani army is
fighting Taliban insurgents. It is a place off-limits to most
Western journalists, but Montero manages to uncover the story of a
mysterious and ruthless Pakistani Taliban leader and meets the
moderate local politician who tried to stop him. During Montero's
reporting, the Western-educated politician, Asfandiar Amir Zeb, was
assassinated in a car bombing - a day after the assassination of
Benazir Bhutto shocked the world - and further de-stabilizing a
country on the brink.
On the eve of the March 2 presidential election, FRONTLINE looks at
the prospects for democracy in Russia. As Putin names his
successor, silences opposition media and maneuvers to maintain
influence, correspondent Victoria Gamburg finds Russians wondering
what Putin's plan for the future really is. Hitting the campaign
trail, Gamburg follows the Kremlin's crackdown on opposition leader
and former chess champion Garry Kasparov and others who accuse
Putin of suppressing free speech and betraying the promise of
Russian democracy after the collapse of communism. But in an era of
oil profits and relative stability, do ordinary Russians
care?