Pentagon chief Carter in Iraqi Kurdistan for talks

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter met Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani Friday on the second day of a trip to Iraq aimed at reviewing efforts to defeat the Islamic State group.

The US defence secretary went into talks with Barzani soon after landing in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous region of Kurdistan.

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

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

An international coalition has since developed and carried out thousands of air strikes, many in support of Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting IS on the ground.

Carter was in Baghdad on Thursday to meet Iraqi officials and US troops.

He said the United States was ready to do more to support Iraqi government forces but stressed the army would have to demonstrate its ability to perform better than it has done in the past.
Source: AFP