AQ conducts UW. This does not make those who affiliate with AQ part of AQ, even if they incorporate AQ into their name.
To call these groups that choose to affiliate with AQ "Jihadis" is to apply a pejorative label that is designed to shift responsibility off of the shoulders of the governments they rise up to challenge and to blame these problems on some form of mass ideological hysteria or mental illness.
The West took a very similar approach to Communism as (non-Muslim) populaces embraced that ideology to seek liberty from colonial-based systems of governance. Russian and Chinese governments conducted UW to leverage these nationalist movements, but it did not suddenly make those who affiliated with them and accepted their support into Russians or Chinese.
Most of these labeled as Jihadists today are also primarily nationalist insurgents. Similarly many of the "homegrown" terrorists are those who either affiliate with such nationalist movements; or that have become disillusioned with the role their own government as either played in shaping those conditions, is playing in helping to suppress those who rise up to challenge such conditions, or both.
In other words, most who are "radicalized" are motivated far more by the polices and actions of their own government than they are by any Jihadist ideology. This is classic blame-shifting on the part of governments, and failure to take responsibility for the negative effects of poor domestic (insurgency results) or foreign (international terrorism results) policies that contribute to this "radicalization."
This is not an assessment of "good vs. evil" or "right vs. wrong." Good or evil is a choice of the participants and will be assessed by the jury of public opinion. Right or wrong is dependent on the facts of any given situation. The only status that is certain is that the government is the "legal" actor and the insurgent/terrorist/Jihadist is the illegal actor; but that in itself has no bearing on good or evil, or right or wrong.
Countries faced with insurgency would do well to take a hard look at their domestic policies and make corrections. Countries faced with terrorism would do well to look at the foreign policies and make corrections as well. But this requires at least a moment of governmental responsibility, and such moments are all too rare.
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