KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Afghanistan, banned from Olympic competition in 1999 because its rulers barred women from sports and imposed other repressive rules, would be welcomed back now that the Taliban have gone, Olympics official Mario Vazquez Rana said Monday.

East Timor, the world's newest nation, also is welcome to join the international Olympic movement, the Association of National Olympic Committees president said.

"If East Timor can comply with our requirements, we definitely want them in," Vazquez Rana said, two days before the association's general assembly. "Definitely, we would like Afghanistan to come in, too."

Requirements East Timor would have to meet include forming a national Olympic committee that wins recognition of the International Olympic Committee, the Games' ruling body. Afghanistan also needs IOC approval to rejoin.

Delegates from national Olympic committees began meeting Monday before coming together for the association's three-day general assembly starting Wednesday. The association has 199 members.

The assembly will discuss progress on preparations for the 2004 Athens Games and sports doping. It will hold elections for the association's top posts before holding talks with the IOC executive board, which meets in Kuala Lumpur for three days starting Sunday.

East Timor declared its independence at midnight Sunday after three centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, 24 years of Indonesian occupation and 2½ years of U.N. administration.

Athletes from the East Timor have appeared at an Olympic Games only once -- at Sydney in 2000, when a four-person team appeared under the Olympic flag as "Independent Olympic Athletes."

Vazquez Rana said that so far, no representatives from East Timor have approached his association about joining.

He said he was not aware of any representatives from Afghanistan attending this week's meetings. Afghanistan's Olympic chief, Anwar Jekdalek, said last week in Kabul, the country's capital, that he hoped to send observers to the Kuala Lumpur meeting as a step toward regaining IOC recognition.