1911年辛亥革命之後，拉薩發生咗驅逐漢人嘅水鼠年騷亂，駐藏大臣撤出西藏返到漢地。十三世達賴喇嘛由印度返去西藏，發出水牛年文告，宣佈解除同清朝嘅關係。之後，雖然北洋政府改設西藏辦事長官一職，其後嘅國民政府又設立蒙藏委員會駐拉薩辦事處，但實際上喺整個中華民國大陸時期，中央政府都無力影響西藏內部事務，中共學者亦指出「中央政府同西藏地方嘅關係極為不正常」。噶廈成為西藏嘅最高行政機構，直屬達賴喇嘛。第五世熱振呼圖克圖執政同埋達札活佛攝政嘅時期，噶廈嘅權力達到頂點，實際上成為西藏政府。
After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Year of the Water Rat riots in Lhasa, which expelled the Han Chinese, led to the withdrawal of the minister in Tibet and his return to the Han region. The 13th Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from India and issued a proclamation for the Year of the Buffalo, announcing the dissolution of relations with the Qing Dynasty. Later, although the Beiyang government changed the post of chief of the Tibet office, and the Nationalist government later set up an office of the Mongolian and Tibetan Commission in Lhasa, in fact, the central government was unable to influence Tibet's internal affairs throughout the mainland period of the Republic of China, and CCP scholars also pointed out that "the relationship between the central government and the Tibetan region was extremely abnormal". The Kashag became the highest administrative body in Tibet, directly under the Dalai Lama. During the reign of the 5th Rechen Khutuktu and the regent of the Living Buddha Dadzha, the power of the Kashag reached its peak and it effectively became the government of Tibet.