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Wangdu, convinced that the Nepalese would imprison him after the surrender, made a run for the Indian border with a few select men. Hotly pursued by Nepalese troops, they ended up crisscrossing back and forth between Nepal and Tibet for nearly a month until they were within striking distance of the Indian frontier. At a place called Tinker Pass, Wangdu’s men sent him ahead with a small escort while they dug themselves in to hold the rear but, in doing so, they unwittingly sent their leader into a trap. Nepalese soldiers ambushed the advance party close to the pass and Wangdu and his men were gunned down in a murderous crossfire. The remaining guerrillas fought their way out and most managed to cross over into India. Lhamo Tsering and six other men were incarcerated in Kathmandu where they would spend the next eight years in prison. Tibet’s armed struggle against the Chinese occupation had come to an ignominious close.

Four decades after the CIA first got involved in Tibet, Roger McCarthy looks back and sums up its outcome: "Unfortunately our history as a government has more sad stories and sad endings than it does have good stories with good endings. Generally speaking, I think the Agency looks at Tibet as having been one of the best operations that it has run. Well that’s fine, that’s very complementary, but however, look at the final results. That’s a very sad commentary. If we look at what we did to Tibet as about the best that we could do, then I say that we have failed…miserably."