As a strategic communications advisor to Prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi (2020-22), I was attending a special session of Iraq’s Council of Ministers when an armed group targeted the US embassy in Baghdad. That evening in late Dec. 2020 was a frustrating and exhausting moment for many in the room. The prime minister and his team were extremely fatigued after over ten hours of challenging budget discussions, held amid the Covid-19 pandemic and economic hardships.

Yet there was an immediate effort to communicate with political parties close to the armed groups as well as Iran and the US to calm the situation and prevent a potential disaster for Iraq. The outreach was successful, with both parties...