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?