Pentagon chief Ashton Carter met Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani Friday on the second day of a trip to Iraq aimed at discussing ways to fight ISIL.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter met Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani Friday on the second day of a trip to Iraq aimed at discussing ways to fight the Takfiri group, ISIL (so-called Islamis State in Iraq and Levant).

The US defense secretary reiterated his commitment to assisting the autonomous northern Iraqi region, which has been at the forefront of efforts to counter the Takfiri insurgents.

Carter "commended President Barzani on the battlefield successes they've achieved on the ground in coordination with US and coalition air power," a Pentagon statement said.

Several high-ranking Kurdish military officials attended the talks in the Kurdish capital Arbil with Carter, on his first trip to Iraq since taking office earlier this year.

The threat posed to Arbil by an ISIL advance in early August 2014 was one of the reasons cited by US President Barack Obama for announcing US air strikes days later.

An international coalition has since developed and carried out thousands of air strikes against ISIL positions.

More than 1,200 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been killed in fighting with ISIL, which last year swept into several areas controlled by the Kurds, who are now trying to take them back.

Carter was due to address some of them before flying out and wrapping up his tour of the Middle East.

He was in Baghdad on Thursday and met several Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his counterpart Khaled al-Obeidi.

Meanwhile, Carter stressed during his meeting with the veteran Kurdish leader that Washington's assistance to Kurdistan as part of the war against ISIL would not bypass Baghdad.

"The secretary also noted that the United States would continue working by, with, and through the government of Iraq to support Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIL," the Pentagon statement said.