Mardan, town and district in Peshawar division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies just north of the Kalpāni River; it is connected by road and rail with Dargai (Malakand Pass), Nowshera, and Peshawar, 30 miles (50 km) south-southwest. A growing industrial centre, it has textile and vegetable-oil mills, a cigarette factory, and one of the largest sugar refineries on the Indian subcontinent. Mardan is the site of a government college. The Rock of Shahbazgarhi, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Mardan, bears one of the great inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka (3rd century bce).
Mardan district, until 1936 a part of Peshawar district, extends north of the Kabul River, comprises the greater portion of the Yusufzai plain, and has the largest concentration of irrigated land in Pakistan. The chief crops are wheat, corn (maize), sugarcane, tobacco, sugar beets, and fruit (peaches, plums, apples, apricots, and pears). Marble deposits are found in the hills. Area district, 1,211 square miles (3,136 square km). Pop. (1998) town, 244,511; (1981 prelim.) district, 1,423,000.