Bhutan's troubles are not over, however.

In 1643 a joint Mongol-Tibetan force seeks to destroy Nyingmapa refugees who had fled to Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal.

The Mongols had seized control of religious and civil power in Tibet in the 1630s and established Gelugpa as the state religion.

Bhutanese rivals of Ngawang Namgyal encourage the Mongol intrusion, but the Mongol force os easily defeated in the humid lowlands of southern Bhutan.

Another Tibetan invasion in 1647 also fails.