First off, you claim:
"Final point.......if we give individual detainees POW status it would mean that we recognized them as legitimate troops of their state. This would mean that those individuals could not be tried for their acts of terrorism any more than a US Pilot could be tried for murder for acts committed during prior wars. Moreover, the would HAVE to be released once hostilities were deemed to be over.
Why does this make sense?"
And so I quote from the Geneva Convention
Article 4
"A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:"
Subsection 3
"3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power. "
Even if no one officially recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, their troops are still POW's under the Geneva Convention.
It's all there in black and white.
Too bad, soo sad for you. :(