Marcus Mabry, international business editor for The New York Times, and Nazes Afroz, executive editor for the Asia-Pacific region for the BBC, take a look at what's ahead for Indian prime minister Mahmohan Singh's first visit to the White House this week. They'll also take a look at what's ahead in Afghanistan; what's next in health care reform; what retailers can expect on Black Friday; and another week for Sarah Palin's book tour.

Thousands of people are fleeing the SWAT valley in northwest Pakistan today. The government temporarily lifted a curfew to allow the civilians to flee the intense fighting between government troops and Taliban militants. Thousands of internally displaced civilians — as many as 800,000, says the U.N.— have been living in makeshift refugee camps, where reports say that conditions are harsh. To get the latest on this ongoing crisis, we're joined by Nazes Afroz, South Asia Editor at our partners the BBC.

Our partners at the BBC have a revealing map of the Pakistan conflict. Research by the BBC into the growing strength of Taliban militants in north-western Pakistan shows that only around one-third of the area remains under full government control.

Polls open today in India, the world's biggest democracy. With over 714 million expected participants the country's historic elections will run for several weeks with results expected sometime in May. But helping expedite the elections is electronic voting, available for the first time across the nation — even in villages with no electricity. For more we are joined Nazes Afroz, who is South Asia editor at the BBC World Service.

Follow the action at Vote Report India

Here's The Takeaway contributor Linda Blake's video of some of the political fanfare in Hyderabad, India:

The sole surviving gunman of the brutal attacks in Mumbai, India last month is now awaiting trial. Yesterday, India's prime minister turned over some of the state's investigation into those attacks to Pakistan in the hopes of making bilateral commitments to get to the bottom of the attacks. Included in the dossier is a description of the attacks as so sophisticated that they must have had help from official Pakistani agencies. Nazes Afroz, the BBC's South Asia editor, joins The Takeaway to discuss the ongoing situation.