Dayuhan---will nudge you to think about this.
1. QJBR (AQ in the Land of Two Rivers (2004) which formed out of the 90s Tahwid group) then AQI (2005) then ISIL/ISIS and now IS---if one strictly looks at the group---outside of claiming they were initially part of AQ and now no longer part of AQ and if one accepts the fact that they were assisting Iraqi Sunnis resisting an illegal invasion by the US and if we see them fighting Assad which the US has stated it wants removed from Syria--and the organization has not declared the US it's avowed enemy nor the Great Satan and from their messaging seems to not be interested in striking the "homeland"-------
1. Then how can we the US declare it a "terrorist organization" when it is no longer a member of AQ and has formally rejected AQ?---the US laws passed in the post 9/11 period state Taliban and AQ not the now IS? Especially if they have in the past and now not declared the US their enemy---yes the US was an enemy within the confines of Iraq but not outwardly because it had invaded Iraq.
As a thinking refresher exercise just go back and read the press articles about the GWOT and the AQ/Taliban from the 9/11 to 2005 periods.
As a thinking refresher go back and reread the many us vs. them articles during the same period.
2. Then how do we engage with an organization with approximately the same stated long term goals---creation of a Sunni state ie Caliphate and the overthrow of Assad?
3. Then how do we fine tune our thinking to assist in the redrawing of the colonial Sykes-Picot boundaries which goes to the heart of most of the ME issues if we do not even talk with even yes "moderate Islamists".
Here is the crack point because we the US have gotten ourselves so tangled up in the view of the US vs. them "the terrorists" we cannot see the trees any longer and at the same we were fighting the GWOT we gave up our inherent personal freedoms so we can no longer even complain without being defined as the "enemy" if one is using the legal software "Tor" in order to maintain privacy on the Net.
When was the last time you read a report of AQ attacking a water tower in the middle of Des Moines, Iowa?
I will change directions and look at the Israeli/Palestinian problem as another example of our not fully understanding the role of a "superpower".
The US provides a massive financial aid package to both the Israeli's and the Palestinians especially in the last five years---and especially on the PLO side which is getting virtually nothing more from other Arab donors.
On the Israeli side we provide advanced weapons and R&D funding for their military research and weapons production or who do you think paid for the Iron Dome missile system which to this day the Israeli's have not provided the technical details on regardless of funding requirements.
So using your thinking we must not have a "voice" in the game ---right?---I would state we must have and should have a "voice" even if both sides do not like it and or even the the rest of the world does not like it.
But where do we find that "voice" in the currently stated Obama foreign policy?---nowhere would be my answer. By the way I would argue that since 9/11 American foreign policy displays a tad bit of we do not really care what the rest of the world thinks attitude.
Look how far that got the CIAs Chief of Station here in Berlin yesterday when the US government was asked for some direct answers to alleged CIA spy recruitments---they tap danced and provided nothing and the COS is being diplomatically "sent" home after getting a great career boost by coming to Berlin.
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